Luuru
by JMK758
Summary: Romance for Trip and Tia takes a new turn when the Auran life cycle results in a vastly unexpected change.
1. Revelation

Disclaimer: Paramount owns Enterprise and everything connected with it, except Tia Anlor (Tee-ah Ahn'-lor), who belongs to me and I'm not sharing. (G)

This is the 15th story in this series, the others being 'Golden Girl'; 'A Few Words'; 'Glistni'; 'Small Time'; 'Acquisition'; 'What Do I Do Now?'; 'For Want of Kilyiis'; 'Daasii'; 'Noblesse Oblige'; 'Roses and Thorny'; 'Time and Again', 'House of Cards' and 'Starlight Maiden' and 'Armageddon'. This story begins about two days after the conclusion of 'Armageddon', and concludes the story arc begun in 'Time and Again'. Tia has been on the Enterprise for almost seven months.

Rating: PG

Luuru

By JMK758

Prologue

Captain Jonathan Archer leaned back in his chair in his Ready Room, looking with satisfaction at the image on the computer screen before him.

"To Jonathan Archer; Commander, USS Enterprise; From Starfleet Command; Permission for 1 standard solar week layover for R&R at planet Risa is hereby granted."

Short, to the point, and very sweet indeed. It had been a long time since the crew had enjoyed any real down time, and Risa was reputed to be the vacation capital of known space. Its natives did not have many planetary resources, but they knew how to be hospitable, and that alone resulted in a level of tourism and trade that kept the planet and its people well provided for indeed.

A standard week. That was enough for each shift to enjoy two days and three nights, or three days and two nights, on the planet. The remaining shifts would, of course, have to work 12 hour days to make up the difference for their fellows, but with the ship in orbit there was little for anyone to do, so even 12 hour shifts would not be much of a burden.

And after everything that this crew had been through just two days before with the madness on Eminiar VIII or Vendikar, they were vastly in need for some relief.

The only down side was that Risa was about ten days away at warp 4. Well, he'd tell the crew anyway. After all, anything good was worth waiting for…

Chapter One

Recreation

When the announcement of a week of R&R, even split among three sets of three days and two nights or vice versa, was made Archer fancied he could hear a collective cheer go up through the huge vessel. He wondered, had he had been gripping the armrests of his chair just right, if he could have felt the vibration? He knew all information on the planet was already compiled in the computer for general reference, and speculated on the rapidity of downloading and the inevitable bottlenecks that would occur.

He decided, as an item of interest, to have T'Pol monitor computer access for a while. After all, when almost ninety people suddenly became intensely interested in the very same thing at the same time, it was bound to have a measurable effect on computer performance.

If he only knew just what sort of things interest in this subject was eliciting…

---

Dr. Phlox was just finishing with his Medical Log entry for the day when the doors to the Sick Bay slid open. He regarded his visitor with an impressively wide smile. "Come in, Tia. What can I do for you?" He looked down at the slight young woman, noting the shortness of her white dress that clung to her in ways that would have some of the male portion of the crew interested indeed. But now she faced him with a measure of apprehension unusual for the sprightly Auran.

"I for my supplement have come."

"You're about two days early." He reminded her, slightly curious. He knew she had no problem keeping track of the days. "Are you feeling weak?"

She did not want to tell him, if she could possibly avoid it, how alarmingly close she had come just two days ago, to a disastrous end to her administering of her own medication. It had led, all accidentally, to a nearly fatal overdose of a formula intended to stave off the effects of luuru, but had nearly killed her instead. She had lain on the deck of her quarters for an entire night and awoken shaken and starving, forced as a result to take an immediate dose of that triply damnable concoction she'd created.

"Weak no. But a supplement would I like." His curiosity was increasing.

"You know perfectly well that if you don't need it, your body won't use it. It'll just be wasted. In fact, some parts would be dangerous in too great a quantity."

"Nyas. Wasted it will be not." She looked about. "Doctor, privately see you may I?" He looked around the room. Except for his animals in their various cages, they were quite alone.

"You can't get much more private than this." He said pointedly.

"Actually, we can." She said with a small smile. He understood her request, turning to a control panel. He activated a certain sequence of buttons, and then addressed the young golden woman in Denobulan.

"Is this what you wanted?"

"Yes, it is. Thank you." Several weeks ago, when she was suffering from an Auran biological ordeal known as dasreer, he had shown her that he could set up a private circuit hooked into the Universal Translator. It would translate their words for one another, but to anyone outside the room they would be speaking in their native languages. Granted, anyone who wanted to could break that privacy with ease, but he had found that there was a high measure of integrity among the crew of this ship that would keep their words private, so long as what was discussed did not harm any others or endanger the ship. "I have a special favor to ask."

"And this would be?" It was unnerving. His lips did not move to match his computer-enhanced words, but it was those words she heard in Auran, not the Denobulan originals.

"I would like an examination. A _complete_ examination." He shrugged.

"That's hardly a special favor. In fact, in your case I'd call it a necessity." She hesitated, unsure and apprehensive.

"You can tell?" He shook his head ruefully.

"Young lady, I am not only a passable physician, but the Great Bird of the Galaxy has invested me with an excellent pair of eyes."

"Great bird….?"

"Never mind. A facetious reference. The point is that even if I were not a Doctor the changes in you are quite apparent to the eye. Your coloring is the most telling thing at the moment. I wonder that people have not mentioned it to you."

"They have not." She held out her golden hand. Her skin was an even deeper gold than it had been a mere two days before. "I attribute it to their courtesy. Some I doubt have noticed."

"I'm sure Commander Tucker has, even if he hasn't said anything yet. I'm sure at this rate he will within about a day."

"I do not know how I can avoid it."

"I presume you know what is happening?"

"Oh, I know, indeed." She answered ruefully, the tone coming over quite well in Denobulan. "I've been trying to hold it off, but I can only do so much. Now that we are going to Risa, there is no point. We are ten days away, and I can be ready in ten."

"I was only wondering when you were going to come in on your own or if you were going to oblige me to send for you." He took her hand and examined it closely, front and back, then the other; then looked at her face and neck, told her to open her mouth, examined her eyes and ears, then stepped back and folded his hands over his chest. "So, will you give me the full story in one sitting, or oblige me to play the human game of twenty questions?"

She thought about the question for a moment. "I have grown fond of several human games, but this time I think I would like to tell all. Especially since I can not get through it alone."

She reached into the pocket of her dress, and he already knew from the shape of the bulge in the snug material what would be in her hand when she opened it. He was not disappointed to find one of his spare hyposprays in her palm. "Yes, I was wondering when you were going to return that."

"You knew?"

"Young lady, I take special care of everything in this Sick Bay. In fact, I had just completed an inventory not half a day before your last visit, and less than a half hour after you were gone I found that it was also."

"You did not report me." He shrugged dismissively.

"I knew where to find it if I needed it. I trust you put it to good use, and that you're ready to explain yourself now?"

"No, and yes." She handed him back the hypospray. "I tried to hold back the luuru, but I cannot"

"The luuru?"

"Remember when the dasreer was upon me, and you asked if there was anything else in my nature that might come up to surprise you?"

"Yes."

"I think this will."

---

That evening, Trip left the Engine Room late, having spent quite a bit of time on preventative maintenance. He wanted to make sure that the engines functioned at peak efficiency. He did not want anything at all to delay their scheduled R&R some nine days away.

As he got off the turbolift and walked down the long corridor to his quarters, he became aware of something out of the ordinary, rather like being watched. He didn't know what it was that made him look over his shoulder, but when he did he stopped. About ten meters back, Tia Anlor slowed to a gradual stop. She was wearing a very short, very attractive white dress that seemed to hug her body with great affection in all his favorite places. "What, are you following me?"

"Daai." She said softly, smiling coyly, teasingly.

"Why?"

"Yvet dupris akiir Li edalyas."

"Mosti?" He asked the Auran word for 'what?'" She slowly closed the distance between them, and when they were together she looked up at him, slowly and sensuously licking her lips.

"I said 'enjoying the view I was'." She whispered warmly.

"Well…" He began, not quite knowing how to answer that. It sounded more like something he would have said. "Thank you. How are you?"

"Lonely, Shar-les." She said softly, reaching up, touching his chest. "I lonely do like being not." She stepped even closer, very close, both hands on his chest, her fingers trailing along the red piping on his uniform as she looked up into his blue eyes. "Are you … lonely?" He smiled, putting his arms around her.

"Not anymore."

--

Trip lay on his bed, feeling extremely contented. He turned on his side, head propped up on his hand as he looked down at the girl beside him. Her long golden hair was fanned out over the pillows and off the bunk, and her golden skin was still suffused with heightened color. "'A golden treasure more precious than riches'."

"Mosti?"

"Just something I read once."

"Would you change it?"

"I beg your pardon?" She picked her head up to look more closely at him.

"If something you about me could change, what it would be?"

"Nothing." He assured her, somewhat surprised. "I wouldn't change a thing about you – ever."

"But if change some thing about me, what would you?" She persisted.

"I told you, darling. There's nothing about you I would change, even if I could." She put her head back down and was silent for a long moment.

"Is that what meant you when do cut my hair not you demanded." He shook his head.

"No, princess, I was crazy then; out of my mind. I'd just seen all of you _killed_, every last one of you, and the only difference I'd noticed in any of you to give me a clue as to when it happened was that you had short hair." He touched her neck near her shoulder to emphasize, noticing with a small smile as a fine tremor went through her. "I wasn't thinking clearly at all."

"Because if change I were, some things be helped can not." Her eyes, as she looked up at him, were clearly troubled.

"Why do you sound like you need my permission? Does this have something to do with that 'muren alarky et aveyon' you call me?" She looked up at him in surprise, and burst into delighted laughter. "Moorunyan atarky at avanyan?" She laughed even harder, turning away and covering her face as she was reduced to helplessness in her mirth. "Mouran alakee at avenyon." He tried again, firmly sure that this time he had it, only succeeding in reducing her to further hysterics as she leaned further away from him.

"Vlis. Qualsia vlis!" (Stop. Please stop!) "_Hurt_ me will you!" She tried to say over her laughter.

"'Tis as easy for me to conquer the planet as to speak so much more Auran'." He misquoted. "'I shall never _move_ thee in Auran except it be to _laugh_ at me'."

She looked over her shoulder, barely able to ask "Mosti?"

"Something from 'Henry V' when he was trying to woo Katherine. I remember it from last year's play O'Cathain got us to do. That's a story and a half." He said wryly. "But the point's the same." She managed to get her giggling under control. She lay back again, looking up at him.

"Mrunion Alirki ne Avinyaan." She told him, pronouncing it distinctly.

"That's easy for you to say. But won't you tell me what it means?" She smiled, blushing slightly.

"Nyas. I will nyasi."

"Okay. Keep your little secret." He slapped her lightly on her shoulder. "But does that have anything to do with your running any 'changes' past me?" She nodded, losing her smile.

"It could. Some have."

"Don't. Don't ever lose control, not even to me. In fact, _especially_ not to me." She smiled again.

"Do want to control me you not?" Her smile grew even more suggestive. "There some great pleasures are in a willing, beautiful slave."

"I don't want a slave. And I've all the _pleasures_ I want." He declared firmly, coming down to kiss her. The kiss lasted a very long moment as he moved his hand up her bare body, then cupping her intimately, but when he pulled up again, leaning over her, there was nothing in her eyes. "Do you really feel nothing?" She shrugged sadly.

"I sorry am, Shar-les. Truly I am. Wish could I feel what you do. Learned from others what they feel; your women. Liz and Hoshi much tell me. But … sorry I am. _Pretend_ I could, but …" He shook his head.

"Don't ever pretend. That's like faking an orgasm." She looked up at him curiously.

"Why would one an ilyassua fake?" She wiggled her bare hip against him. "The real thing so good is." He shrugged.

"It's what some women do." She looked at him, astonishment giving way a moment later to uncontrollable giggles.

"'Kid' you do me." She said when she could speak again over her laughter. "Makes sense that does nyasi." He shrugged, kissing her again. Her mouth opened slightly to his, their tongues dancing sensuously, but long moments later when he looked in her eyes, there was no fire there.

"You sure you feel nothing?"

She shrugged. "Feel it I do, particularly my tongue, but … Asked Liz I did and … _feel_ it I do nyasi." She shook her head sadly. "Sorry I am. Men and women," she shrugged, "they _different_ are."

"Especially human men and Auran women." He said with a wry smile.

"Sorry I am."

"No. Don't be. Not when I know what you _do_ feel." He ran his fingertips over her left wrist and her eyes flew open as she gasped.

"Now _that_ do I feel." He kept stroking her wrist lightly, tracing several centimeters along her pulse. "Daai. That do I feel!" She whispered urgently. "Right to my _sulyas_!" She gasped, shifting her hips in emphasis. "It like _there_ you me touching are." She gasped, her body undulating uncontrollably on the bed. "You that know!"

"Yes, I know. I also know that you feel _this_ a lot more." He bent over her, his lips pressing to the side of her neck.

"Shar–!" She gasped, even as she turned to him to give his lips better access to the side of her neck. She gasped again, moving about on the bed, unable to lie still as searing waves of pleasure chased each other up and down her body. "Nyas, Shar-les, nyas. Vlis. Stop. _Vlis_! Control myself _can not_. Please!" He added gentle licking to the kissing and she cried out in unbearable joy. She gasped, moaning and writhing about on the bed, clinging to him, each breath punctuated in cries and moans of unbearable pleasure. She could not keep from pressing her body against his, her body undulating uncontrollably against his as she pressed against him.

"Nyas, Shar-les. _Unfair_ are you. Ah. Please. Qualsia! Tupris! Please. Oh. More no. Sul nyas!" She writhed against him, her hands reaching for him despite her words. "Please. Vlis. Stop. Qualsia! Oh, what language use I difference it makes _not_; you _listen not_!" Her normally cool body was now hot indeed as she pressed even closer to him, her hand coming down to reach for him. His own hand came up to cup her hot breast, his thumb teasing her. "Shar-les, I control myself when this you do can _not_. You my pringlee touch, my _alyes_ touch and --- _oh_!" He gently squeezed her and she almost screamed, moving desperately against him. "Shar-les. Mercy have. Kylranti muur! Qualsia! Sul nyas!" She could barely speak, her breath coming faster and faster, every breath a gasping moan, her voice rising in pitch and desperation. His other hand reached down, tracing past her quivering stomach even as she moved against him, as his hand moved lower to her hotter, more intimate flesh as her own hand grasped him harder, her chest heaving with her passionate cries.

"Shar-les, I – I - Oh Shar-les, nyas. Please, nyas. Qualsia no. Oh, mercy have. Mercy! Kylranti! _Kylranti_! Too good. Feels too – too – too –" She was starting to tremble, and when he touched her moistness she arched her back, head thrown back as she shrieked "_**SHAR**–_!"


	2. Preparing for Jamaharon

Chapter Two

Preparing for Jamaharon

Trip Tucker was at the main control console on the elevated platform before the Warp Five engine when he was joined by his Second. "Begging your pardon, sir," the Assistant Chief Engineer began with unusual deference, "but are you all right?" Trip looked at his friend, mildly surprised by the man's quiet inquiry.

"I'm fine, Billy. Why do you ask?"

"Well, sir, I – er…" Trip turned to face his friend directly.

"What's with this 'sir' business? You got something on your mind, say it normally."

"I wasn't really sure if I should. I … heard about what happened in the Mess Hall the other morning." Trip smiled wryly.

"I dare say the entire ship has heard about it. Not my preferred way to air dirty laundry, but it's done. Let's just move on."

"Yes, sir."

Trip sighed in mild exasperation. "You know, one more 'sir' out of you, Billy, and I'm going to start insisting that you salute me. Come on, pal."

"Well, I just couldn't help but notice that … well, that you're walking around like you're wearing an EV suit." Trip shook his head. He'd tried to avoid it, but…

"Shows, doesn't it?"

"Only if someone's eyes are open." His friend admitted, conveying the perfectly obvious. "That's why I had to ask if you're all right."

"I'm fine. Tia, well, spent the night last night, and we sort of … made up." He glanced about, but they were quite alone at the moment. "You know the Ryerson Mk 10." Billy blinked in surprise at the unexpected divergence. The Ryerson Mark 10 was little more than a glorified strap of flexible metal some fifty centimeters wide and attached to a clamp lock, used for emergency repairs. When engaged about a weakened or broken support strut, it clamped so tightly about the structure that it formed an excellent seal until the pieces could be welded back together.

"Well, sure. Once that baby clamps around something, it's so tight that nothing can pull it loo …" Billy's voice trailed off. "Oh." He decided to change the subject as quickly as he could. "So. What plans for Risa?"

"Nothing elaborate. I'm just going there to rest."

"So, no plans for this 'jamaharon' thing that's got everyone interested?"

"What do you think I'm going there to rest from?"

---

It was 0823 when Tia awoke in Trip Tucker's bed, remembering that he had kissed her good morning before he'd started his shift, but since she was 'off' on this date she had not gotten out of his bed. She opened her eyes again well over an hour and a half later, smiling as she remembered the late evening and the impromptu 'game' she'd enjoyed, that of being taken despite her 'pleading'. She turned over in the bunk, his subtle scent on the pillow with her. She reached up to draw it closer – and used it to muffle a scream as her stomach cramped sharply.

She lay gasping, her legs drawn up convulsively as she fought to relax her muscles from the pain as the cramp all too slowly eased. When it finally faded enough for her to breathe, after an eternity of anguish, she realized she was very far indeed from her own quarters. She also realized the toll last night's 'indulgences' had taken on her.

She had known that visiting him would take a strain upon her system, but she had not cared. Last night had meant so much to her that she was sure the pain would be a small price to pay. Now she knew she had been wrong!

Getting off the bunk as soon as she could, clutching her bare stomach, she was halfway to the door before she stopped herself, looking down at her nude body. Normally she would not give a _frignanti_, but she had made a promise to abide by the customs of these people; and in addition she had no desire to cause problems for Shar-les. For her to be seen leaving his quarters was one thing – but to do so naked was, for the humans, an entirely different matter.

She reached for the short white dress he'd draped over a chair from its place on the floor from the previous night, and pulled her arm back an instant later as all the muscles from wrist to elbow cramped at once. She clutched her arm to her body, grimacing in pain, unable to do more than try to relax her muscles and wait it out.

After an eternity the pain started to fade and she reached again for her white dress, but when she did so she saw just how badly her hand was shaking. Her body was trembling in ways that had nothing to do with the climactic sensations of the previous night.

Pulling the dress on, frustrated at failing twice in doing so, she crossed the room on shaking legs and pushed the button, opening the door. She hurried through, rushing down the corridor as quickly as her weak, trembling legs would take her.

It was hard to walk a straight line; worse navigating through the _quiltiansi_ curved corridors, but thank Aura she did not pass too many people. She could pretend to be all right even while trying with all her might not to pitch forward onto her face!

She made the long trek to her quarters, fortunately also on E deck, only by the active grace of Aura itself; actually missing the button the first time she tried to let herself into her rooms. She had to lean against the door frame and use one hand to steady the other so her shaking finger could connect, and then she virtually fell into the room.

As the door mercifully slid shut behind her she staggered across the room to a cabinet, pulling it open and taking out one of many 1 liter containers. Her hands were shaking so badly she could barely hold the container and remove the top at the same time. Unable to hold the small cap, she let it drop to the deck where it bounced away; she didn't care where.

Steeling herself, she raised the container to her lips and started to drink. As the noxious milky concoction flowed down her throat she started to gag, and fought to avoid choking. The mixture was so horrid she could barely stand sipping it, let alone being forced to consume the entire liter. As she swallowed the vile liquid as fast as she could she felt her stomach rebel; yet one more reaction for her to fight. She was disgusted by the vile liquid, trying to force herself not to think about it, not to be sick.

_Finally_ the container was empty, and she could stop drinking the rank mixture. She started to lower the container from her lips and the aftertaste joined with the rapidly growing nausea in her stomach and she knew that this time her stomach was going to win.

Dropping the container, she ran into the smaller room, falling to her knees barely in time. She desperately clamped both hands over her mouth, fighting the rejection. The more her stomach rebelled, the harder she fought. The more it threw back the mixture, the tighter she clamped her mouth shut, both hands clasped tightly over her mouth as her body waged war with her will; her will not to have to consume another liter should she lose the first.

After an eternity the battle ended as her abused stomach, unable to throw back the mixture, gave in to the inevitable, and gave up fighting to expel the horrible substance. When she was sure of victory, she let her hands fall and collapsed weakly, grasping the fixture to keep herself upright on her knees. She knelt, pale and gasping, wiping stinging sweat from her eyes.

She felt no sense of victory, for she had _wanted_ to expel the rislinqi thing as badly as her stomach had. But it was over. She had won, this time, though it had been close; closer than she cared to consider. She was safe again … for four more hours.

---

"I've been reading up on this Risa." Bob Rasters told his friends in the maintenance bay. With him were his fellows Tom Moore, Jeff Cross, Mary Beck and Susan Magee.

"Yeah, what'd you find out?" Tom wanted to know.

"Seems they've taken the hospi … the 'welcome business' … to the next level."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Susan asked.

"It means that you can get anything you want on this planet, anywhere, from anybody. The entire population. They live to _serve_." He drew the word out suggestively.

"Yeah, serve what?" Jeff asked.

"Us. The guide calls them the most hospital … hospiditious …. hospititable … race in the galaxy."

"Are you drunk?" Mary cut in with a smile. She didn't think so, but…

"Nah, I just can't say hospididibel. Well, anyway, their most favorite expression is 'all we have is yours'. And they share everything." He regarded them each in turn. "_Everything_!" He drew out the word expressively, leaving no doubt at all about his meaning.

"So you said.

"They've got this thing … called a horga'hn. The guide says if you show it off you can get anything you want."

"I don't want a horga'hn." Tom said.

"No?"

"No. If I do it I want her right there with me."

"Pig!" Mary decried.

"Anyway," said Bob, trying to get things back on track, "they have this thing called jamaharon, supposed to be the ultimate in sexual pleasure."

"I thought you said it was a horga'hn." Jeff insisted, just trying to keep up.

"No, that's what you use to get jamaharon. Look, it was all laid out in the guide." He handed his friend a padd, which he activated, looking at some of the images displayed.

"Whee-whoo. If this is jamaharon, I can't wait to get me some." Mary snatched the padd out of his hand.

"I said he was a pig, I was wrong. You're _all_ pigs!" She tabbed down, looking at some of the other pictures. "On second thought…" She said, considering the images displayed, sharing the padd with Susan. It was clear they were _not_ looking at pictures of scantily clad women. But then she looked up. "But don't you need a horga'hn?"

"No. Like they say, all they have is ours." She looked back at the picture with a lascivious smile.

"I'll take it."

---

"So, Cap'n, what's the story behind Risa?" Trip asked his commander later that afternoon in the latter's Ready Room.

"Well, from what I read, most of the planet is a dismal swamp subject to violent storms and torrential downpours throughout their twenty hour day, all of it punctuated by seismic activity that has to be felt to be believed."

"Charming. We're talking about the R&R planet we're heading for, right?"

"That's right." Archer assured his friend with a wry smile.

"As a travel agent, you make a great starship captain. Next time, _I_ book the hotel."

"Except, that is, for the equatorial region, where a sophisticated weather control system regulates everything from sunshine to ... well, everything. The Risans set this system up over a hundred years ago, and have turned their world into the tourist capital of the sector. They have no industry, no resources they could reach easily without expanding their weather and tectonic control to ridiculous proportions, but they make a very comfortable living on hospitality. Their only law is no one gets hurt. Other than that, its every pleasure you want. It's a hedonist's utopia."

"Aren't you afraid the crew won't want to leave?"

"After what we went through in and around Vendikar, _I_ might not want to leave!"

---

At dinner, Travis, Hoshi, Malcolm, Liz, Trip and Tia were gathered about two tables pushed together. When they arrived, each noticed, but did not want to be the first to comment upon, a change in their Auran friend. Where, before, her skin had a definite golden tint, it was now quite pronounced indeed. The deepening flush of color might be anything, and no one could think of how to bring up a question, to the point where no one at all did so.

"So, what are you going to do when you get there?" Travis asked.

"I'm going camping with Seamus." Hoshi declared. "I'm taking a backpack, some hiking boots and I'm going to get blissfully lost for two full days, where there's not going to be anything to translate other than polar bears or sea gulls."

"I don't think you're going to see any polar bears or sea gulls in the woods." Travis exclaimed with a grin.

"Then I'll be all right."

"I notice you mention going with Seamus with only a backpack and a pair of boots, so I guess you _will_ be all right." Liz remarked with a grin.

"Lech! So who, er, I mean; _what_ are you going to do?" The looks the two friends exchanged at this faux slip were telling indeed.

"I'm going mountain climbing." Liz declared. "Just drop me off at the base of the biggest rock, and pick me up two days later at the top."

"Better bring an airmask and thermal suit." Malcolm 'warned'. "I hear the biggest one is about 9,000 meters."

She hesitated. "That's bigger than Everest, isn't it?"

"By about 150 meters, give or take." She thought it over.

"Sounds about right." She declared confidently. "I like 'em big."

"That's what I hear from Jim Cien." Hoshi remarked; then evaded a semi-affronted swing of her friend's hand, to the amusement of the others.

Hoshi noticed Tia take a drink from the large glass before her, which was filled with an oddly colored milky substance, but before she drank she cautiously tensed up; then drank as quickly as she could, and when she put down the half empty container it was with a grimace of immense distaste. Hoshi wondered briefly why the young woman did not order something more to her liking, but it was no business of hers. "What about you, Malcolm?" She asked, to keep the conversation going.

"I'm taking a page from your book." He answered, setting down his own glass. "I'm doing a little cultural research with emphasis on etymology."

"Right." She said in monumental disbelief. "_You're_ going to study their _language_?"

"It's true. I'm going to examine the various permutations of this thing they call 'jamaharon'." She laughed.

"I'm sure you're going to be delving into all aspects of it. A real in-depth study."

"I expect my research to be very thorough, indeed."

"Better have Phlox standing by when he gets back." Travis warned.

"I hear people have died from too much research." Liz agreed.

"Not really. I looked up the records. There has only been one fatality on that planet since it opened as a … rest stop."

"Really?"

"Yes. The cause of death was never officially determined, but there is a notation that it took three days to wipe the smile off his face."

The entire table erupted into a collective groan; all but Tia; who turned to Trip with a mystified expression. "What wrong is?"

"Well, it's … that is …" How to explain a bad joke that has been bad for centuries? He looked at his friends for help. Liz reached over, patting Tia's arm.

"You'll find out when you get there, hon."

"So, what about you, Travis?"

"I have a bet with Trip."

"Yeah?" Liz asked.

"We're going to see which of us can be the first to convince the Risans that their seismic stabilizers are malfunctioning."

She looked back and forth between the two men. "You guys are pigs."

"Oink." Travis replied with a grin and a wink.

"Well, from the noise complaints I get sometimes," Malcolm opined, "I think Trip and Tia have a better chance of winning that bet."

"I going with Shar-les am not." Tia replied. "Beaches am I seeking."

"Going to work on your tan?" He asked, though personally he doubted she needed to. In fact, he had been noticing that her coloring was steadily becoming deeper over the past few days.

"Nyas. Just to the beach must I go."

Hoshi looked at her friend curiously, mildly surprised in picking up the stress on her word 'must'.

"You noticing a trend, here?" Liz asked the table in general, distracting Hoshi's thought. "We women are going for rest and recreation, and you men are going to exhaust the natural resources."

"Or at least the local populace." Hoshi agreed.

"Well, all in the interest of harmonious interplanetary relations." Travis assured them in total innocence.

"Yeah." Liz's tone carried all her feelings. "You know," she said, addressing Travis, "I don't know how Jennifer feels," she turned to Tia, "but my hat's off to you, hon."

Tia regarded Liz curiously, looking several times from her eyes to her hair and back. "Hat?" she finally had to ask.

"Well, to both you and Jennifer actually. If Jim planned a separate vacation in paradise where he wanted to confuse the seismic stabilizers, I'd be nine points into a core breach by now." Tia looked at her uncomprehendingly; then looked in turn at each of the others at the table, finally back to Liz.

"What care I seismic stabilizers for? If adjust them they wish during vacation …" she shrugged, "…I to the beach am going."

"So, no jamaharon for you?" Malcolm asked with care. Tia looked at him blankly; then her expression deepened as she struggled to interpret the question. Malcolm very rapidly decided to give up.

Trip caught the intensity of Hoshi's look, and after a few moments sighed, touching Tia's arm to attract her attention. "I'll explain it all later, darlin'." He glanced at Hoshi. The intensity of her stare had not diminished by an iota. "I _promise_." Though her stare softened somewhat, it was some time before it stopped.


	3. Questions

Chapter Three

Questions

Three days passed without incident, and as far as the crew of the Enterprise was concerned, all the remaining days before their 'vacation' could be equally dull. The Enterprise did seem to be a magnet for disaster, but this time things seemed to be going amazingly well. This time they just might make it without a crisis.

Anticipation among the crew had been growing steadily, with every person aboard making his or her solo or group plans. Even the anticipated instructions that those who remained aboard would have to pull twelve hour shifts to cover for their fellows had been met with no undue distress. Everyone knew they would have their turn in paradise, and that was enough to keep spirits high.

When Ensigns Sato and Cutler finished spending the evening together chatting about their plans, they left Liz's quarters feeling, not anticipation, but concern, having decided to look in on their friend. After months of a regular routine broken only by the unusual, a recent change in their routine was noticeable indeed. For the past two days, the third member of their trio had been frequently conspicuous by her absence. They had had dinner together, but Tia had seemed quite reticent, not her usual effusive self, and had left immediately after finishing her meal.

"Not only has she not been seen outside duty hours," Liz was saying as they strolled down the corridors, "but last evening Trip was alone for movie night."

"That is unusual." Hoshi agreed, having passed on the 'traditional' Tuesday film night herself in favor of a private evening in the company of her 'very good friend' Shamus O'Cathain. "What does she say at work?" She asked the biologist.

"Not a thing."

"No?"

"No. And that's what concerns me. She doesn't say anything's wrong, but she's unusually quiet. And she takes a lot of 'breaks'."

"I wasn't aware you punch a clock down in bio."

"Come on, you know better than that. Abrams doesn't mind what we do in our shifts when we're not orbiting or coming from a planet. There's enough to keep us busy just following up on things from weeks ago. We've got more things growing down there than most farms. But a lot of the time she's just … gone."

"Gone?"

"I don't mean _gone_ gone, like she walks out on us. She's got her assignments just like I have mine, and she does them, but lately it's … well, she's just not in there."

"You know, in picking up new languages, you look for patterns, but right now you're becoming a real challenge."

"All right, I'll give you a 'for-instance'. Yesterday she's recording a progress entry in her log, and she records the entire thing in Auran. She knows better, and she is always so meticulous. Ever since she started to try to learn English, she's been very careful. You know that; she's almost obsessively careful. She doesn't want to use the UT for _anything_. But this time Sarah and I are sitting there watching her and she's making all the entries in Auran, and she doesn't even notice."

"That it pretty odd."

"I put the UT to it later; everything was right. But it's like her attention's a billion light years away. And have you noticed her color? She's been getting … well, more golden each day. I was concerned it was her blood pressure so I ran a check."

"You checked her out?" Hoshi asked, surprised. "What did she say to that?"

"Nothing. I did it behind her back – literally."

"And?" She asked, not commenting on the ethics.

"Nothing. BP is normal for her, though too low for a human; temperature 96.813 Fahrenheit, everything else normal. But the level of gold, minerals, vitamins and enzymes all elevated. But I'm not as concerned about that as I am about her in general. I think something's wrong, and she won't tell me what."

"You asked her?"

"Well, not point blank, but this afternoon I did ask how she was, and she said she was fine. But she used the word 'cusla'." Hoshi stopped; disturbed.

"We've been over this."

"Yes we have." The word referred to 'healthy' rather than 'fine', and had become an issue some weeks ago when used as an evasion by the young woman. They had been 'investigating' what they thought was a problem, and had opened a whole can of worms neither of them had wanted to pursue. They had confronted her, and she had told the truth while evading the spirit of the point.

"Well, I think we're both thinking the same thing. I think its time we came out and asked her."

It had not been a long walk to their friend's quarters, but whatever they had expected to find when they got there, it was not a uniformed Security Officer posted outside the door. "Andrea?" Hoshi asked, concerned as they approached. "What are you doing here?"

"Lieutenant Reed posted me." The woman replied, brushing an unruly lock of blonde hair behind her right ear.

"Why?"

"Well, it's like this. The Commander told the Captain, the Captain told the Lieutenant, the Lieutenant told me … and so I'm telling you." She grinned to take the sting out of her words.

"You've been waiting to say that to someone, haven't you?"

"Yes. Thanks. But seriously, she's not to leave her quarters for ten days other than meals and work."

"But why? I mean, I saw what happened in the Mess Hall, I couldn't believe it; but Trip says there were no charges. Why's she being punished?"

"No, you don't understand. She's not being punished. She requested these specific terms. Seems she's been sleep-walking."

"We know." Liz said. "We're the ones who 'turned her in'."

"Well, she doesn't want to be let out to go back to the gym. She can come out any time she wants, and sometimes we'll chat for a while; it takes some of the boredom out of the tour. But if that door opens and she's asleep, my orders are to put her back to bed, gently but _firmly_."

"How long has she been in there?"

"About an hour."

"Can we see her?"

"Sure. So long as she's awake she can do whatever she pleases."

Hoshi pressed the signal button at the door, and a few moments later the door slid open, but whatever Hoshi would have said died in her mouth. It had been two days since she'd really looked at Tia, particularly in the diminished light of the ship's evening, and the change in her friend was surprising indeed.

The Auran's body normally had a tint of gold in contrast to the varied pinks of their own skin, and at dinner it had been pronounced; now it was marked. She was a very definite gold, though not as if she had been dipped in the metal. Her body still had a normal range of shading, but that range was intense indeed. It extended from mid-range gold at the extremities to deep suffusing color in the areas where a human would be a deeper pink or red. When she opened her mouth to speak, the depth of coloring was startling.

She was dressed in a short red robe which set a severe counterpoint to her coloring. While Hoshi considered for a moment how to ask what was going on; Liz was typically more direct. "What the _hell_ is happening to _you_?"

"Luuru."

"Gesundheit." Liz replied. "Now what's going on?"

Tia looked at Hoshi in inevitable confusion, but decided to give up.

"Klusel, please." She stepped aside, admitting them.

-

"All right, hon," Liz began impatiently as the door slid shut, "I really am not in the mood for twenty questions. Something is going on with you, so just tell us what. Leave off the fanfare, just level with us." Tia looked imploringly at Hoshi.

"She means dupris kylrintio makrys di klista." Tia nodded in acquiescence.

"Much in me happening is. Sure to in English say it I am not. But wanted to ovre … to _talk_ … to you about it." She thought carefully, searching for the words while the women waited in barely held patience. "The sleep running you saw, my body's way it was of holding back the luuru. Knew I too soon it was, in my vlasra … my unconscious. Burning off the energy my body was. Now, with the announcement of Risa, change things have. The luuru allow I proceed to can. In fact, barely stop it I can."

"Why did you ask Security to lock you in?"

"Preparing for the Luuru I am. Meditate and rest must I, and my strength conserve." She picked up a container off her desk. "Also this vile concoction must I drink."

"I've noticed that. What is it?"

"Vile. Made it I did, but though good for me it is, of good taste is it not."

Hoshi took and sniffed it, but it had no odor. She looked at Tia questioningly, but the girl did not try to prevent her. She took a tiny sip, gacking and grimacing. "Erg! This is _revolting_. How do you _drink_ this horrible stuff?"

"In great quantity, as often as it I stand can."

"And you can't make it with any better _flavor_?" She extended it to Liz, who pushed it away, having no desire to sample it.

"It concentrate is of every nutrient, vitamin, mineral and enzyme my body needs."

"I still think there's room for cherry flavoring."

"Could find no way to compatible make it. Can help me you?" She asked Liz.

"Oh, do it – in the name of common decency." Hoshi urged.

"Sure. But what's it all for?"

Tia searched hard for the words, and for the first time wished she were willing to give in and use the UT, but she had what she recognized and admitted to herself was more _stubborn_ pride. She'd thought all afternoon of how to approach her friends, but she still had not settled on the proper words. She stepped toward her desk, trying to buy an extra second before again facing the women.

"The Luuru the third phase of the Auran life cycle is. Comes it at different times, for everyone the same not, but the stages same for all it is." She leaned against the back of the chair set under her desk, trying to find the right words. "Phases in Auran life there three are." She said carefully. "Atas 'childhood' you say. Then begins at about the tenth year of life the Cealra, which now I am. To you a 'girl' I would be called. Now, Luuru, I a 'woman' will be, that which you are, an adolescent 'girl' no longer but an 'adult'."

"An adolescent girl. How old are you?"

"I nineteen palyis am. On your planet …" She paused, considering, "twenty two 'years'."

"On Earth, that makes you an adult."

She shook her head. "Is same not. Years I have lived may to a status me entitle, and learned I have that humans maturity connected with biology is, but endured the Luuru I have not, so 'girl' I am, 'mature' am I not."

"Then the Luuru is both biological and social, a 'rite of passage'?" Hoshi guessed.

She thought about the interpretation, but then shook her head. "Nyas. A real change it is. My body will mature become. More than just possible to refnali become; that for three palyis could I be. I … I change will." She frowned, struggling to put difficult explanations into a foreign language. "My body will be as it now is not. A girl I longer will be no, but a woman…" She glanced at Liz. "… except I a tail will have."

"_What_?" The biologist exclaimed, shocked.

"Well, something that did say one of the crew. Describe me once when think I hear not as 'a nice piece of tail'."

"It doesn't … that's not exactly what he _meant_!"

"It is not?"

"NO!"

"Ok." She picked up a padd from the desk behind her and made a show of deleting an entry. "No tail."

Liz and Hoshi exchanged anxious glances. "Hon, could I see that padd?"

Tia turned over the padd to Liz. It was off, but she turned the screen back on. "'It was the best of times, it was the worst of ti –' You _bitch_!" Tia giggled as she ducked away from the upraised padd. "You scared me half to _death_."

"I sorry am, but resist I could nyasi. You so apprehensive looked." She was still giggling.

"You give me such good reason!"

"Apologize I do." But then she loosened her robe, turning away from them to let it fall off her shoulders and halfway down her golden back. She looked over her shoulder at them. "So, what do you of wings think?"

"_I_ think you're going to _need_ them when I kick your saucy butt!"

-

But humorous though the diversion was, Hoshi tried to get things back in order. "You asked for our help. You said you need a favor." The humor in Tia's eyes vanished.

"Daai. A large one." She restored the robe but did not bother to tie it. She caught a meaningful look from Hoshi and tied it firmly, then crossed the small room and sat down on her bunk. "Please sit?" Liz sat down beside her, Hoshi pulling out the desk chair and turning it around. "The Luuru upon me has been for klanstu – 'weeks'. Anston … I mean 'sorry'. Nervous I am. Tied tongue I get." She shrugged helplessly. "But holding it off I was, because ready I was not. Now, with us to Risa going, possible it is. The Luuru on shipboard can be not, know to do it how a planet on only. Privacy must I have, but isolation not." She looked away, blushing, though so deeply golden had her skin become that at first they did not realize except for her reluctance to look at them.

"Know how to explain not. You the first people who are Auran not to learn of this are. Even among ourselves, it wedsa is. It '_private'_ is." She tried to convey with her tone just how private it was, hoping she could communicate it well enough.

Liz exchanged a glance with Hoshi, and took Tia's hand, and the girl seemed to gather strength from this, at least enough to look at them. Her eyes were still shot through with gold, though both women pointedly did not notice, knowing in time it would fade and the girl was stressed enough as it was. Liz, in fact, kept careful if subtle watch to see how long it would take for the 'bolts of lightning' to fade, considering it a good barometer of her blood pressure.

"All Aurans this endure. Men they … a rite of passage is it. It a long time ago was, a way to himself prove, and think I still it is. A time of trial is, or so I think."

"It's probably more a case of male bonding and getting bombed." Liz said wryly. Tia shrugged.

"May be; I know shall ailu … shall never." For a moment her voice broke as she realized how true this was. Not only because it was as private to men as it was to women, but because she would never again be among her own people.

She tried to push the thought away with sufficient violence, so much so that the mental shove showed clearly in her face. "But among women …" She could not continue, and instead turned to them, her tone imploring. "Liz, Hoshi, so much you have done; so much a part of my _life_ you are. I know … I know you each have plans for your vacation. You Liz spoke of 'climbing mountain', you Hoshi spoke of 'going camping'." She looked down, unable to meet their eyes. "I … I have right no to inter…" Her voice trailed away in embarrassment. She wanted so badly to ask, but now that the time was here she could not bring herself to do so. Hoshi leaned forward, closer to her.

"Tia, what do you want to ask of us?" It took a while for Tia to look up, and when she did her expression was openly pleading.

"For woman, the Luuru is attended by the closest family; mother, mother's mother, sisters, female 'cousins'; women family. It is best done at a body of water, a beach or river. Seen I have images on files of several places on Risa that would do, but have I others to share with me it no." Still holding Liz's hand, she reached out with her other hand to Hoshi's. "Described yourselves often as my 'big sisters'." Her voice took on a deeply pleading tone, as if she were afraid of the answer. "The Luuru is short, hours only. Still leaves it two nights and two days for your plans. As endure I the Luuru, would you …" She took a deep, shuddering breath, trying to fight the apprehension welling up in her. "Would you … please … my sisters be?" She watched her friends apprehensively, but Liz turned to Hoshi with a smile.

"Better pack your bikini. Looks like we're going to the beach."

"Sure does."

"Ealyiis." She exclaimed in monumental relief, feeling almost ready to collapse after the pent up tension was gone.

"Hey, we'd be honored. Did you really think we'd turn you down?"

"Was sure not. Months it has been since your 'R&R', and spoke so _longingly_ you both did of your plans…" Hoshi cut her off.

"Hey, plans can be changed, and a day at the beach is hardly an ordeal. Besides, we're both honored to be asked to participate in something so significant to a friend."

"So, are there any ceremonies or other rites to observe here?" Liz asked.

"Nyas. Only to see that starve to death or drown I do not."


	4. Discoveries

Chapter Four

Discoveries

"_What_?" They demanded in an entirely unplanned duet.

"I think there's something you're not telling us." Hoshi exclaimed.

"I think there's a _hell of a lot_ you're not telling us!"

Tia looked away, releasing both their hands. "Spoke I of 'enduring' the Luuru."

"Suddenly there sounds like a lot to endure." Liz exclaimed, remembering what Tia had endured when the dasreer came upon her about four months ago. "Is this like the dasreer?"

"Nyas. That almost three weeks away is."

"Great."

"Looking forward to it I am not, because after the Luuru, worse it is."

"_Worse_?"

"Could we keep on track please?" Hoshi asked sharply. "At the moment, I'm more focused on that 'drowning' line."

Tia nodded. "But fair example it is. My biology different from yours is. What for you takes a week for me takes four hours, but enjoy those hours I do _not_! Through the Luuru from girl to woman I become will. Get to in years it you do, for me all in a day happens."

Suddenly for Liz Cutler, everything was clear. "That food you've been packing away like a horse for months; then burning off in the gym late at night until suddenly there's a guard at your door to keep you from doing it. The 'vile concoction' you're drinking…"

"Concentration of every vitamin and mineral my body use can, and vast increases of the intravenous supplements of gold and other needs Phlox been giving me has …"

"How much?" Tia considered a moment.

"By the time Risa I reach; absorbed and stored will I over a thousand times the normal levels have …"

"But bodies don't retain those things." Hoshi protested. "Anything the body doesn't need is either converted into fat or excreted."

"Human bodies. An Auran retains in the first stages of Luuru everything, but as fat not. It in the cells themselves is, where needed it is."

"We really are talking about metamorphosis here." Liz concluded.

"Of a kind, though 'tail' and 'wings' I joked only. My body … I a girl will be longer no. I a woman become shall, but I the years you enjoy will have not."

"And you were worried about drowning because…?"

"When begins it, the Luuru will to my body do all in a day. My metabolism will many times over race. My body temperature is 78 quodm. On your scale, normal at 96.813 of your degrees is. It reach might; in your scale, 150 or 160, but beyond 130 a _danger_ there is; which why is that we at a lake or river do it, to keep the temperature low."

"Enzyme activity in humans shuts down at far lower temperatures." Liz said, firmly in biologist mode.

"Tested it I have nyasi, but believe 130 my limit will be. Further, store enough one can to through the ordeal get nyasi. I intravenous supplements need will at intervals you able to judge will be. Will try I more drink of the liquid to, but grow I delirious might. You me help might have to. Also English surely will I forget. Able to translate I will be not."

"If we use lake or river water to cool you, as your body temperature changes radically, you might be subject to convulsions."

"Daai. Women who fit were nyasi have sometimes survived nyasi. Those who were prepared nyasi sometimes survived nyasi. It is love I you both do, and as sisters to stand with me have you asked; but to think I like that I wise choices also made."

"Don't worry; we'll make sure you come out of this in one piece." Hoshi promised her.

"So, now you're stocking up on everything." Liz concluded, trying to get things back on track. She wanted to know everything she could so she would be able to help.

"My body for Luuru ready is, but can have I it here not. Fit must I be, so exercised I did; strenuously. But now, conserve everything have to. Must get more now than I by eating alone can." She said, giving the container on the desk behind Hoshi a disgusted glance.

"What are you going to tell Trip?" Liz asked, bringing the question home. She hesitated, and finally confessed;

"I know not. Would nothing prefer."

Hoshi shook her head. "Bad idea."

"Very bad idea." Liz agreed.

"Know how to tell him I do nyasi. Scared say to."

"Scared?" Hoshi asked, surprised. "Why? Are you … frightened of Trip?" She asked with mounting concern at this unexpected revelation, but Tia shook her head.

"Asked him 'if could change he anything about me, what it be would?', but said he that _nothing_ does want he change to." She looked imploringly at her friends, as if begging for their understanding of her dilemma. "But things change will. It I stop can nyasi. But know I what not. Come out of the Luuru as she went in does _no one_, but how I come out will I know not."

Hoshi shook her head sadly. "Tia, when you asked him what he'd change about you, you asked the classic question that for millennia every woman has asked the man who loves her. And anyone with a microgram of brains will answer 'nothing'. But in your case, you really _meant_ a change, and I'll bet a year's salary he had no idea."

"Listen to us, Hon: In the morning you'd better hunt him down and tell him everything. If you don't, I think you'll always regret it. Your relationship lately is what I'd generously describe as 'rocky'." Tia remembered all too vividly his reaction to the last time she withheld information about herself, and had no desire to repeat that experience, ever. And, just the other day, she'd allowed the stresses of the oncoming change to overcome her control and she'd punched him – hard enough to knock him across the room. How he'd ever forgiven her, she did not know. How he'd forgive her this, she did not want to find out.

"Daai. I him shall tell."

---

"I just thought of something horrible." Liz exclaimed to Hoshi an hour later as they walked down the corridor, both feeling rather dazed.

"What?"

"Well, she's 22 by our calendar, 19 by hers, but _now_ we find out that by her world she's not considered a 'woman' but still a 'girl'. I suppose to them that makes her technically a …" She let the thought die, not wanting to consider it. "But does Trip have any idea he's been…?"

"Don't say it!" Hoshi exclaimed in horror, cutting her dead. "Now or ever, don't _ever_ bring it up! We don't know _anything_ about Aurans or their customs – and I'm just starting to get the idea of just how little we _do_ know – but I don't _ever_ want to get into that. No way. No how! Not my business!"

"Mine either." They walked a little further. "He's going to work it out." She concluded; her tone carrying oblivion.

"I want a freaking _transfer_."

"Ditto."

---

It was a full day later that Hoshi and Malcolm encountered Trip in the Mess Hall. He was sitting at a table, a drink in his hand, completely ignoring everything. She had only to look at him to know what had happened. Malcolm was about to move on to another table but Hoshi tugged at his sleeve, stopping him. She felt she needed a little moral support. They sit down, uninvited, but Trip did not even notice them.

"Selis tuy pon yintis?" Hoshi asked quietly. Trip looked at her, surprised. To his point of view, his friends had just suddenly appeared at the table.

"What?"

"That's Auran for 'penny for your thoughts?' I figured it was appropriate."

"Yeah." He took a sip of his drink. "She told you, she said."  
"We're sisters under the skin. She tells us a lot. It wasn't a secret, so I told Malcolm."

"It's a hell of a lot to take in." Reed agreed sympathetically.

Hoshi looked at her friend, seeing the stress in his eyes. "She told you everything?"

"She told me a lot, almost more than I can accept. I mean …" He floundered for words, finally taking a drink. "I don't know what I mean."

"Well, it at least answers what's been going on with her these past few weeks." Reed pointed out.

"That it does."

Hoshi leaned a bit closer. "How do you feel about it?" She asked quietly.

Trip looked sharply at her. "How do I feel? How _can_ I feel? It's going to happen however _I_ feel. It's a normal part of growing up – at least growing up Auran."

"You once said you never wanted her to be anything else but what she is."

"Yeah, I did say that."

"Then why are you sitting here slowly getting drunk?"

He pushed the glass across the table to her. "Fruit juice."

"I apologize. It just seemed …"

"Oh, I'm stunned, not drunk. Never drunk. I have to stay sober, the engines may need all sorts of servicing, and I can't fall down on the job. 'Get me to the beach on time'." He took another drink.

"Fruit juice?" She asked pointedly.

"Fermented fruit juice." He admitted. He put the glass down with a 'thunk'. "Oh, hell, I admit it. I don't know _what_ to make of her. Each and every time I think I'm getting a handle on her something new comes up. Sometimes I feel like I'm lost on the ocean, shipwrecked, bobbing up and down clinging to a plank with no idea where I'm going. Ever since she came into my life seven months ago, every day is this wild adventure; I never know _what's_ going to happen next. Just when I think I do, she drops some new bomb, and I'm off again. Just trying to hold a _conversation_ with her is an adventure; I spend half the time we're together just trying to piece together what she's said. She's an imp, willful and stubborn and has spent the last seven months like a kid on Christmas morning or a ground gripper on her first trip into space, exploring the galaxy; and that's because she _is_. She's fiery and joyous and passionate and filled with wonder and exciting and excited about everything she sees and does. When we're separated I feel like a big chunk of my soul is just carved out and missing, and when we're together I feel like I'm seeing the universe for the very first time and in a whole new way, a way I've never imagined it to be. Ninety-nine plus percent of the time I want to hold her in my arms and part of one percent of the time I want to take her over my knee. She's a squirrel brained imp with an IQ I often suspect is higher than half the crew's; mine included. Once in a while, talking to her, if I'm not careful I find _myself_ scrambling sentences, and sometimes I think she does it on purpose. Then she'll say something that makes her sound more profound than the Oracle of Delphi, like she's got a deep and unique perspective on the universe itself, and a little while later she'll be completely perplexed and mystified by something innately human and I wonder how I would feel trying to figure things if I were on Aura. But this new thing, where she's not even fully grown yet and even she doesn't even know what the end result will be… Sometimes I think we'll get back to Earth and I'll introduce her to my family and my dad and mom and Elizabeth will be scratching their heads trying to figure her out and I can't be of much help because every time I think I've got a handle on her she drops something even more wild into my lap, and I don't think I'll _ever_ get a handle on her."

"I've got your handle on her." Malcolm said when he ran himself out of breath.

"Yeah?" He took a drink, setting the glass down with a 'thunk'. "So tell me."

"You love her." He thought about it for a moment, and then nodded.

"I love her."


	5. Planet Fall

Chapter Five

Planet Fall

Nearly a week later, at slightly past 0330, Trip Tucker, unable to sleep, was walking down the corridor to E/58, finding the blonde haired Andrea Carstairs on duty outside the door. He noticed with some irritation, as he approached, that her eyes were closed. As he stopped in front of her, it was clear she was completely unaware of his presence. He stood for a moment before her, then tapped her on her shoulder. Startled, the woman jerked to attention when she saw him. "Sir!"

"Is this how you guard your post?"

"No, sir. I – I'm sorry, sir." In that moment, however, he got a good look at her bloodshot eyes and remembered something.

"You're Beta Shift, aren't you?"

"Yes, sir." She said with difficulty, holding stiff 'Attention'. "I was posted at 1600."

"And you didn't get relieved at Zero hours?"

"Sir, I haven't even had a 'head' break. Sir."

"All right, Ms. Carstairs. I'll look into this in the morning. Meantime, we're about a half hour outside Risa, so you're relieved. Go get some sleep."

"Thank you, sir." Feeling very relieved, she left as quickly as she could.

x

Following the woman with his eyes as she left, Trip shook his head. He'd talk to Malcolm later. The Chief did not normally make post assignments personally, but it was clear someone in his department had fallen down on the job.

'Well', he thought, 'as long as I'm here, I can just peek in on Tia. If I'm quiet, I won't wake her.' Activating the override control, he opened the door and stepped in quietly. As the door slid quietly shut, the light in the room was so dim he could not see anything for a few moments. Gradually, however, his eyes adjusted and he could make out the still form of his beloved on the bunk, blanket pulled up to her chin. He looked down at her placid face, her long golden hair framing her features, looking like burnished ore in the dim light.

He stood looking at her, as always unable to resist her beauty. She was like a … words failed him. He always admitted he was no kind of poet, now he wished he were so he could find some way of putting into words what she did to him.

"You as quiet as a clinda are." She whispered softly, not even opening her eyes, her soft whisper the only indication that she was even awake.

"I'm sorry." He whispered as softly, embarrassed. "What's a clinda?"

"Had one once. Closest thing you have a 'cat' might call."

"Cats are pretty quiet."

"This one nyasi. All night long, from furnishing one to another would she jump, until the prisna in must I her put if sleep I get would."

"I'll go."

"Nyas. Feeluy Li lurin edal nyasi." She shook her head, trying to waken enough to remember the words. "Lonely I want to be not." She pushed aside the cover, revealing that she wore a long nightgown of some light color that it was too dim to be certain of. He could now see her quite well even in the dimness, but could not distinguish color very well. "Veelma ri fuur, qualsia? Stay me with, please? Li luas ti … um, I going to feeluy edu … um, lovely, um, 'lonely' be."

"Are you all right?"

She nodded. "Daai. Tired just. Sleep well can not." She shifted aside as he sat down on the bunk, and sighed gratefully as he gathered her in his arms. She held him as he did her, not wanting to be anywhere else ever again.

He was surprised by how warm her body was. Normally it was nearly two degrees cooler than a human's, and that was definitely enough to detect, but now she was quite significantly warmer. "Tia, I'm not sure I told you this well enough, but I love you. I realize what you're going through is way beyond me, but I just wanted you to know I'm proud of you, of your strength, of your courage."

"Do feel 'courage' now nyasi. Feel like you I want to me hold forever.

"It won't be long now. We're less than a half hour outside Risan space."

"Scared I am." She whispered. "Do know what this will bring not. Would go through it not, if could I could."

"Don't worry. You'll manage. I have faith in you."

"I … wish could I. Know it today will be, and scared I am. More than minka … than yesterday."

"I wish I could go with you to help."

"Nyas. Allowed it is not. So many rules I broken have. Must 'draw the ling' where some."

"Draw the ling?" He asked, unable to keep a note of amusement out of his tone.

"Daai." She said softly against him, drawing a straight path along his hand with a fingernail. "Ling."

"Line." He corrected with a smile.

She shook her head, whispering. "Nyas. 'Line' an Earth predator is, live in 'Africa' it does." He leaned back so he could look at her better.

"Honey, are you all right?"

"Daai. Cusla Li eda. Forni oa mis."

"Huh?" He turned on the light over her bunk, brushed a lock of golden hair from her forehead, and as he did so he discovered she was sweating heavily. "Tia?"

"Suur?" She asked distantly, her voice having a sing-song quality he definitely did not like.

"Can you understand me?"

"Daai." She sighed. He gripped her more firmly.

"Do you know me?" She smiled.

"Daai." She answered as if it were the most ridiculous question. "Tuvi mrunion Alirki ne Avinyaan! Li vantis cuvilir."

"I was afraid of that. I love you too, but can you say it in English?"

Something in the question seemed to snap through her haze, and she stiffened in distress. "Aura. Ka Luuru!" She tried to get out of the circle of his arms, and he helped her to her feet, but her legs gave out and if he had not been holding her she would have fallen to the deck. She clung desperately to him. "Alyanti ri!" She begged.

"Of course I'll help you. Tell me what to do."

"Ka Luuru. Li vlis vas misa nyasi!"

"You can't stop it?"

"Nyas!" He gathered her into his arms, holding her close an instant before she stiffened, every muscle in her body cramping painfully in the same moment, and she flung back her head and screamed.

xxx

Hoshi was deeply asleep when suddenly the 'yellow alert' klaxon sounded once in her quarters, very loudly, and Commander Tucker's voice came on directly over the startled and now wide awake woman; "Ensigns Sato, Cutler and Mayweather report to the launching bay for immediate debarkation." She was already throwing the blanket off and swinging her legs to the floor when the Alert sounded again, followed by the same order. It would continue on a loop until she turned it off.

Half way out of her bunk, she reached back and, without looking, pressed her palm against the panel, trusting she would hit the button. "Ensign Sato acknowledging."

She looked at the chronometer in the dim light, which had automatically come on at 10 percent illumination on her first movements. '0416'. The Enterprise was scheduled to arrive at Risa shortly before 0400, but she was not scheduled to leave for shore leave until well after breakfast. There was only one reason for this pre-crack-of-dawn summons: something had gone horribly wrong. And she could only come up with one thing that could be. "Oh - – - – -!" For someone fluent in scores of languages, sometimes only the good old earthy English words did it.

Jumping off the bed, she yanked on a pair of shorts and a pink T shirt, stepping into slippers and grabbing the four travel bags from her table, two for her shoulders and two in her hands. Well it was that she had showered the previous evening and had been packed for all the varieties of their plans; for she was out the door even before she was done with the first long string of expletives.

x

It was fortunate that Gamma shift was well into its duties, and the bulk of the crew was blissfully asleep; there was no one in her way as she dashed headlong for the launching bay. As she clung to the bags clutched in her hands and criss-crossing her chest on long straps, she caught sight of a similarly burdened woman cutting into the corridor and running ahead of her. She didn't waste breath calling out; Liz Cutler would not be slowing down and she had to concentrate on keeping her own breakneck pace.

She was less than two seconds behind the biologist when they charged into the huge bay which contained the two shuttlepods. As they braked to a halt, the women took in the tableau in a glance. Commander Tucker, Ensign Mayweather and Dr. Phlox were together by the open hatch of 'pod 1, but no one else was about. The three men had varying degrees of concern and worry etched on their faces. "Oh, fu –!" Liz bit the word squarely in half.

"Inside" was all Tucker said. Neither woman stopped to consider if this was information or an order. They boarded the ship as quickly as they could, and each was very sorry.

Tia Anlor sat strapped to one of the rear seats, dressed in her Starfleet uniform, but she was collapsed into the seat, her head resting weakly on the support. When she turned to look at them they could see the pain reflected in her golden eyes. Her face and hands glistened with perspiration, and her uniform clung to her, already darkly wet. "Came in the night it did." She whispered; her voice tight. "Can stop it _nyasi_." She winced, clenching her fists tightly as she tried to silence a sharp exclamation.

They started toward her, stowing their bags wherever there was room as Mayweather boarded and got into the pilot seat. Cutler had her tricorder out as Hoshi took the younger women's hand, surprised at the heat of it. "You're running a fever of 102." The young woman should normally be 96.813.

"5 degrees nothing is." She gasped.

"Strap in, ladies." Mayweather directed, activating the various controls before him.

"Just take them wherever they say." Tucker directed from the door. "I'll square things with the planetary authorities." He turned to Tia, and his demeanor softened. "Hang in there, princess. You'll be fine."

"I you see soon _sha_ –." It ended over an octave too high as every muscle in her body seemed to clench at once, and she stopped breathing, a long moment later releasing her pent up breath in an explosive burst. Liz, strapped in next to her, ran a dry cloth over her glistening face.

"Launching." Mayweather warned, and Tucker barely managed to get out of the way as the hatch closed. A moment later the chamber was vacated and being evacuated. It seemed like just seconds before the bottom dropped out from under the shuttle, and they fell into open space. "Any particular destination, ladies?"

"A beach. Isolated would be preferable, but if not, then anyplace there's water." Hoshi directed, wishing this could all be done in the Sick Bay, but knowing it was impossible.

"You got it."

x

Tia let her breath out in an explosive release, then took another and held it for a long moment before releasing it as sharply. She lay pressed into the chair, trying to keep quiet, but the expression on her face gave mute testimony to pain that she could not even try to hide. Liz scanned her body again. "105. And your BP is soaring."

Tia wrenched her hand away from one of the arm rests to point, with trembling finger, to a large black chest at Hoshi's feet. The linguist bent down to unlock and lift the top, finding ten containers of a familiar concoction, each containing one liter of the liquid. She hoped they contained Liz's revised formula. Tucked between four of them was a medical pouch, which she opened to find a hypo and ten phials. "Think we should give her some now?" She asked Liz.

"Nyas." Tia gasped. "Yet nyasi! Know where they were I you wanted." Hoshi closed the case again. Tia was gasping more and more sharply, her breath starting to wheeze when Liz gave her a cup of water which she drank quickly. The added liquid only made her perspire more, her wet uniform clinging to her like a second skin. "Oh, Aura. Can take this _nyasi_." She exclaimed half in anger, half in desperation and reached for the collar of her uniform. She yanked the zipper down, getting caught in the diagonal strap across her chest and then reaching under and yanking harder, pulling the zipper as far as it would go and pulling the material apart as hard as she could.

She was wearing nothing beneath it.

Hoshi looked forward at Travis, but his attention was completely engrossed in the approach to the planet. Her apprehension turned to a mild regret for her friend, who would probably never know what he had missed.

Even as Tia was struggling against the straps to get the wet material off her shoulders and down her arms, Liz was out of her seat and rummaging about in her travel bag which had been tossed into the rear of the cabin. She leaned over the back of Tia's seat. By the time the young Auran was finally free she was also more than halfway secured in a small but reasonably serviceable beige bikini top. Hoshi glanced forward at the absorbed pilot with a commiserating smile. 'Sorry, Trav.' She thought. 'Better luck next time.'

xx

It took only a few more minutes before Travis sent back word to prepare for landing, and a moment later they felt a gentle bump and he started switching off the controls. The two scientists started gathering their supplies, but Travis came back, glancing at Tia. "You'll have your hands full with her; I'll take care of this."

"Thanks, Trav." Hoshi said as Liz started to undo the straps holding Tia in place. She had been trying to get them loose, but her hands were trembling too much and she could not work the latches. They got her free and supported between them, astonished at the heat from her normally cool body, as he opened the hatch, taking a double armload of supplies out. They followed cautiously, stepping down onto the sand.

Hoshi had a moment to glance around. The pod sat at the far end of a small beach, reasonably distant from three vacationers who looked on with mild curiosity. It was not every day that a Starfleet shuttlepod landed on the beach, nor was it customary for one of the planet's visitors to be virtually carried out between two others, but no one made a move to come across the length of beach, and that suited her just fine. About ten meters away the small lake sat with barely a ripple on its surface. Again, this was ideal – far better than having to deal with oncoming waves, no matter how mild. The lake was small, perhaps no more than two kilometers about its irregular circumference. They should have no problems here.

Liz and Hoshi supported Tia between them as they started for the water. Her uniform was hanging about her hips, and it took barely three steps for it to drop off.

x

Hoshi was absolutely mortified as the blue uniform fell, tangling about Tia's feet. She did not have to look to know; she knew Tia all too well. She looked back to see where Travis was and if he had noticed – ha! – while the women tried to keep Tia from falling, tripping over the blue cloth puddle. A moment later he was beside them.

"Here. I'll hold her up. I'm sure you two can find something to fix this problem." As he took hold of Tia's arms high at her shoulders both women hurried to rummage through Liz's travel bag that had been dropped only two feet behind, finding the other half of the bikini. Fortunately, it was one that required, like the top, only string ties at the hips, so they had it secured in short order. Hoshi noticed that Travis gave them plenty of room to work.

When they stood up, he had his eyes firmly focused on the Auran's. "She's burning up, and her eyes don't look so great." He told them. Liz pulled her tricorder out, pointing it at the girl.

"108. Eleven above her normal."

Travis scooped her up in his arms, his attention kept strictly either on her face or the edge of the water several meters away. "I'll take care of her, you guys bring the rest." He carried her to the water's edge. She tried to put her arm about him, but barely managed to do so, and none of them liked the glassy, distant look in her eyes. Her body was hot, and she was perspiring so heavily she was virtually dripping. "Put her in?" He asked. Hoshi looked at Liz, who shrugged.

"Me you're asking? You know how many Auran women I've taken through this?"

Hoshi looked at Travis, then at Tia who lay in his arms, her hot flesh glistening golden in the warm sunlight. There were times she hated being the ranking officer. Uncertain, she nodded.

Half in, half out of the still water, Travis knelt down in the shallow water's edge so that Tia's legs and hips would be in the water, and gently deposited her in the cooling blue liquid. Instantly, Tia's free hand clamped over her mouth to muffle a shriek as every muscle from toes to hips cramped at once. Her other arm about Travis' neck tightened convulsively, pulling him over as her body's muscles seized up and she tried to muffle scream after scream until, after a very long moment during which her frantic friends tried to figure out what could be done to help, Travis being almost smothered against her, her body began to relax and her hand fell away from her mouth, releasing a long sob.

When Travis stood up, working the kinks from his own wrenched neck, Liz took his place. He turned to Hoshi. "I always knew she was stronger than she looked, but –." He shook his head.

"You okay?"

"Nothing a good massage won't cure. I'll get the rest of the stuff."

It took him three trips to bring everything to the water's edge. "Listen," he said to Hoshi, "the Commander explained this was private for you women, so I can't stay. But I won't be going on leave until the second tour, so if you guys need anything just yell; and I'll burn a hole in the atmosphere getting Phlox down here."

"Thanks," was all she could think of to say. She had been hugely impressed by his restraint. She could not have blamed him if he had gotten a good eyeful of the young woman, and most men she could think of would have 'supported' her chest to chest, and a good handful would have taken advantage of that very tight clutch she had pulled him into…

"Well, see you later. Good luck." He started back to the shuttle. She looked down at Liz, who was kneeling beside Tia, who had relaxed considerably. She looked back; he was just getting into the pod, and she looked again at her friends, turned and started running across the sand.

"Travis! Travis, wait!" She ran as fast as she could, which was not very, not getting traction on the sand. Already the pod door was starting to close. "Travis. Wait!" She skidded to a sandy halt just as the door stopped closing and reopened. She looked at him in the control seat, very aware of the disheveled appearance she made. "I – I, er, just wanted to say…" He looked at her questioningly. "I don't think I've ever really given you enough credit." His eyebrows went up. "Any other man … well … I just wanted to say that if you ever want that massage, I'll be happy to."

He smiled. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

She realized there was a lot more she could have said, but couldn't think of any words. She backed away from the hatch, allowing it to close, and she stood off far enough for safety as the shuttle lifted off the beach.


	6. Metamorphosis

Chapter Six

Metamorphosis

"A little help here!" Liz called as the pod rose into the sky, and Hoshi hurried back to her friends. Liz was holding Tia's shoulders down in the sand as the girl thrashed about wildly. "Tricorder." Hoshi retrieved the instrument out of the biologist's bag.

"Temperature 114. Pulse … 242! BP 60 percent above normal and climbing."

"More water. We've got to get her down. She's too hot." Hoshi started to scoop handfuls of water and run it in long rivulets up Tia's body, but she tensed sharply as the cool water touched her. She cried out each time Hoshi did so, her body fighting Liz's efforts to restrain her. "Don't stop. We've got to get her temperature down."

"116 … 117."

"What's her cellular mitosis count?"

"Dasblis korpius boasplakin!"

"What's she saying?"

"Her umbrella rock's a nostril."

"Blast it, that's what I thought." The two scientists shared a long enough glance for a stressed grin. Hoshi kept trying to cover Tia's hot body with waves of water, but it was doing no good. She checked the tricorder in her other hand as Tia stiffened with a piercing shriek. "What are the readings?"

"Mitosis count's 30 trillion."

"She was right, that's about a thousand times too high. What about the rest?"

"You're not going to believe this." She turned the small device so her friend could read it.

"Holy –. Whatever's going on, her nutrient levels are dropping like boulders. Quick." She started to pull Tia up into a sitting position, brushing the wet hair from her face. "Get me one of those hypos and a container." Hoshi opened the case and first prepared one of the ten ampoules. "Anywhere." Liz directed, so she pressed the pressure spray against the girl's arm and it started to hiss. "All of it – and hope we're not too late."

When the device was empty, she opened one of the bottles and handed it to Liz, who put it to Tia's lips. The young woman opened her eyes enough to see it, but could barely drink. She drank about a third of the bottle and then suddenly twisted away out of Liz's grip, fell to her side on the sand and was violently sick.

"Blast it, that's good Concord Grape!" She hauled the girl back up, holding her tightly and pressed the bottle to her lips. "Drink, damn it." She squeezed the bottle, forcing a mouthful into her, and then clamped her hand over Tia's mouth as the girl moaned desperately, trying to pull Liz's hand away as Hoshi stared at her friends in astonishment. "Get her hands down." Liz demanded. Hoshi pried Tia's hands away, holding her wrists tightly. "Now swallow, _damn it_! You've got a lot to get through." She continued to struggle, growing more violent. "What is it in Auran?"

Hoshi leaned in close. "Kasplis klais, _fringati_!" Liz looked up at her friend long enough to spare her a surprised grin.

It took a long time, but Liz finally won, forcing her friend to swallow the liquid, but then she forced her to take more, again forbidding her to expel the formula. Tia thrashed about in Liz's tight grip, torn between wanting to fight away and not wanting to, aware that Liz was trying to help. But the biologist had a lock on her and would not give. Finally, she'd fought it all into the girl, and they gently lowered her onto her back. Liz looked up at her astonished friend, brushing her short brown hair from her eyes. "Tough love. Sometimes it's the only way." Whatever Hoshi might have said was cut off as Tia's entire body seized up and she shrieked in agony. She screamed over and over as Hoshi retrieved the tricorder, scanning her.

"Is she all right?" A voice behind them inquired. They looked up to see the three people from the other side of the beach that had been attracted by the blood curdling shrieks.

"No." Liz answered sharply, ignoring the monumental inanity of the man's question. "But we're doing what has to be done."

"Do you need a doctor?"

"I am a doctor. Now, I don't mean to be rude – or maybe I do – but this is 'women only', so please go away."

Tia thrashed about so violently that Hoshi grabbed her, holding tightly as the girl continued screaming shrilly. If Liz was any judge, she hurt a lot more than she had before. Ignoring the men, she reached for the tricorder. "Cellular division rate is off the scale, and it's rated at 50 trillion. Temperature up to 127. Damn it! This is too high; she's going to go into shock if we don't get this down. Help me get her in deeper." Together, they lifted Tia's hot body, bringing her out deeper until the water reached to her shoulders, and she was submerged to just below her breasts. They held her tightly as she thrashed about, the two women getting soaked as well, and Liz would not have minded the men's strength, but a glance up showed that they had already departed.

"Cellular hydration levels have dropped to 82 percent." Hoshi reported.

"Blast it, we're soaking her to keep her from burning away, trying to keep her from drowning and she's dehydrating. Get me the water!" Hoshi returned to the case, bringing back another bottle. This time, as soon as Tia tasted it she clutched it desperately, drinking as fast as she could, sucking at the bottle until it started to collapse. An instant later her body convulsed in pain and she dropped the bottle, starting to choke as they turned her on her side in an effort to help her dislodge the water from her lungs.

"Blast you, Tia; if you live through this I am _never_ letting you live it down." Liz muttered. It was a short time before the body-wracking coughs passed and they could lower her onto her back again, but Hoshi had no good news.

"Her metabolic rate is up another 10 percent. That dosage just isn't enough; her nutrient levels are starting to fall again. Cellular activity is completely off the scale. I can't even tell you what's happening in there!" She exclaimed, indicating their friend's writhing body.

"Just give me a reading, damn it." She tried several settings.

"Temperature moderating at 120; so at least that's working. BP is 68 percent above norm, pulse closing on 300, nutrient count dropping to 37."

Liz looked up, distressed. "You're freaking _kidding_ me!"

She lowered the device. "And everything else, every other reading, is way off the scale." She concluded; opening and handing Liz another bottle of the 'vile concoction'. Liz took it and pulled Tia up, both women supporting her scorching body. Her eyes were glassy and she was panting heavily, her breath like a bellows.

"All right, hon. I'm sorry, but this is going to hurt you a lot more than it will me." She forced the bottle between her lips.

--

It took hours. Hours, and all the resources that they had brought, until it was finally over. One of Liz's greatest fears was that it would take more than they had, but in the end it was a very near thing indeed. They had finished force feeding Tia with the last of her mixture, fighting her efforts to expel it, and given her the last of the injections ten minutes before her body started to calm. Her temperature began to drop on its own and they could draw her out of the water with aching muscles. They had relieved one another several times over, fighting exhaustion in their efforts to keep the young woman from hurting herself, but there had been nothing they could do for her pain, which seemed to only grow worse as the morning waned into afternoon.

Finally it was over, and they could allow themselves to relax, virtually collapsing sitting up on the sand on either side of Tia's body. The young woman between them was totally still, completely unconscious, and as they had the time to take stock of her they were surprised indeed.

Tia's body had returned to her normal coloring, but that was the only thing about her that was familiar. Everything else had changed.

The woman was now clearly, visibly older; a woman now, no longer with a girl's body but with the mature curves of a … "If I didn't know better, I'd put her at late 20's. She looked about 20 this morning; it looks like she's grown about ten years."

"Grown is right." Hoshi agreed. "Does she look taller to you?" Liz reactivated the tricorder.

"Unless we wore this thing out, she's gained about five inches." Liz said, amazed despite herself. "She went in that water at 5 – 3. This thing says 5 – 8.21." They looked up and down the length of her body.

"Five inches in six hours."

"No wonder it freaking hurt."

Hoshi shrugged. "Looks good on her, though." She leaned back; then decided to lie down on her side in the sand. "What else does that say?"

"Looks like everything's back to normal for her. Readings are within one percent of nominal."

"How long you figure she'll stay asleep?"

"I don't know about her." Liz said, allowing herself to collapse on her own side where they could see one another over the top of Tia's head. "But I plan to take a week!"

--

A half hour later they packed and used a communicator to call the ship, requesting the Enterprise signal for an air car to take them to the hotel that Liz had booked them into well before the Enterprise had entered orbit. Hoshi was very glad for her foresight, she had not thought of arranging accommodations ahead of arriving at the planet. A moment later Reed's voice was replaced by Trip's. "What's happening?" He demanded.

"Hello, Commander. We're just waiting for transport to the hotel."

"I _know_ that. I meant, how's Tia?"

"Oh, Tia." She said with a grin at Liz. "She's here too, but she's kind of tired. In fact, she's sound asleep. But I'll tell her you were asking about her." She snapped the lid closed. Liz gaped at her, astounded.

"Are you out of your _mind_?" A second later the communicator beeped. Hoshi opened it again.

"Hello?" She said sweetly. "Hoshi Sato here. We're on vacation now, but if you like, you can leave a message at the beep." She grinned. "_Beep_." There was a monumental silence, and she could just picture the look of astonished outrage on her friend's face.

"Hoshi?" His voice came a few seconds later.

"Yes, Commander?"

"You – _you hung up on me_!"

"Yes, Commander." The grin was clear in her voice. "I'd love to stay and chat, but our air transport is arriving and we've got to get everything aboard. Talk to you soon." She flipped the antenna lid closed and looked at Liz, who continued gaping at her. She had only _thought_ her friend had lost her mind.

"He's going to have an apocalyptic _fit_." The communicator beeped again. "I just want to take this moment to tell you I don't know you."

She opened the communicator again. "_HOSHI_!"

"Commander, this really isn't the time. Look, it's all over, but she is _exhausted_. I mean, so exhausted we're going to have to _carry_ her into the aircar because I don't see her waking up for nearly a _day_. I'm sorry. She's fine, but she's just going to have to sleep this off."

The circuit went dead a moment later.

"Well, at least he took it well."

"Took it _well_?" Hoshi asked. "He went through a bulkhead."

"Then why –?"

"Because he also knows I'm right. Now come on. This car's not going to sit here forever, no matter how nice these people here are."


	7. Unveiling

Chapter Seven

Unveiling

The two women did not have to want for assistance in getting either their supplies or bags or a bikini clad young woman safely into the hotel and settled in a large suite of rooms. They got Tia under some covers in a nice, comfortable bed, and though they had spent the entire first half of the day soaking wet, this time it was hot showers for aching, exhausted muscles and then to their own beds.

The next morning they debated waking their friend who, though the tricorder and Liz's examination showed to be in good health, showed no inclination at all toward waking up or going out. They finally decided they could 'risk' spending an hour or so looking around. But when they returned to their suite, they found Tia still thoroughly asleep. They stood on either side of her bed, Liz scanning her with her tricorder. Hoshi watched closely, not without a measure of apprehension, but whatever Liz had found, as she put away the tricorder, seemed to have satisfied her.

"I'm going to wake her." Liz decided. "Twenty two hours is all anyone deserves."

"There no need is." Tia said; eyes still closed. "I awake am." They were surprised, her voice was slightly different. Where before it had been melodious, to it was added a gentle … something neither could immediately define from only seven words, but it gave her tones a mellow seductiveness. She opened her eyes and sat up, the blanket falling away. "Thank you, my sisters."

"You're welcome." Hoshi was the first to find her voice.

"We were glad to help."

Tia pushed the covers off her body, looking down at herself appraisingly. After a moment, she looked up at them. "A mirror there is?"

"Right over here." Liz pointed to an alcove a few feet away. Tia got off the bed, and almost stumbled had they not caught her. In the first instant she started to look over their heads, then finding the first difference in her new body.

"I taller am." She said in a voice like ear candy.

"Almost eleven centimeters." Liz confirmed. They steadied her as she walked on bare feet over to the full length mirror, and she stared in astonishment at the refection of the three of them. Clad still only in Liz's 'borrowed' bikini, she was openly amazed at what she saw. She was about the height of either of her friends, and her body was definitely more mature.

"More than hoped I." She whispered. Where before her body had been extremely attractive (in fact Liz had often thought 'unfairly sexy') she was now stunning. Proportionately unchanged relative to her new height, her body was now clearly that of a woman, rather than the precocious girl she had been.

Letting go of her friends as soon as she was sure she could stand on her own, she undid the strings holding the small garments in place, handing them off to Liz as she took stock of her new body, turning to view herself from every angle. Finally, she looked at the other women, asking the question most intently on her mind. "Do think you Shar-les like will?"

"Honey," Liz told her, "you're gonna knock him on his _ass_."

xxx

"We need to celebrate." Liz declared when Tia, having had her shower, came back into the main room, wrapping herself in a white robe.

"Celebrate?"

"Well, yeah. You've just been through … well, what do women do on your planet after this?"

"It a time for contemplation is; a time our new body use learn to."

"Oh, hell, you can do that when we get back to the ship! I'll have Phlox give you a few days off. You can do better than that here on Risa."

"What do?"

"Well, for one thing you need some new clothes. Even if you hadn't broken the zipper off, you'll never get into that uniform again." At that moment the communicator on the bureau beside Hoshi's bed beeped. She went to it and flipped open the antenna grid.

"Ensign Sato here."

"Hoshi!" Trip Tucker's voice came out of the unit, sounding stressed. "How is she?"

"Hello, Commander. Yes, she's fine." Tia took a step closer but Hoshi stopped her with an upraised hand. "She woke up about a half hour ago."

"Let me talk to her."

"Sorry, Commander, she's in the shower." She touched her finger to her lips, hushing Tia.

"Okay." She had never heard him sound so dejected. "Look, how is she?"

"Fine."

"Was there … much change?" Hoshi looked at her friend appraisingly.

"Not at all." She said with a grin. "That is, if you discount the wings and tail." She snapped the unit shut quickly, cutting his outraged protest squarely in half.

"Hoshi! Why did you that?" Tia protested, astonished. "Talk to him I wanted."

"You will – when you see him. I'm building him up to the point where he'll appreciate it all the more."

"You're building him up to a _conniption_!" Liz exclaimed. "I repeat; when they come to take you away I do not know you."

"Trust me." Liz shrugged.

"It's your curvy ass." She turned to Tia. "Come on. Shopping spree."

Tia looked from one woman to the other, feeling as lost as ever. "What a 'shopping spree' is?"

"Honey, you have missed out on so much!" Liz exclaimed. "A shopping spree is the most fun a woman can have standing up."

xxx

By the time the trio entered the fourth store their supply of new and fine dresses and other 'luxuries' had grown so large they had had to send it back to the hotel ahead of them. Of course, once unburdened, there was nothing to prevent them from beginning the process over again.

They chose the best clothing with a serene disregard for price. Not only were the choices they made of reasonable price but the Risans were almost so willing to accommodate that Liz and Hoshi actually felt guilty about haggling. They soon began to amass a staggering wardrobe.

Tia, in particular, discovered to her boundless delight that the Risan styles of clothing very closely approximated the light flowing garments she was used to. She had worn blouses, skirts, shorts and dresses aboard Enterprise because there was little more, but here she found such fashions as she was used to; so much so that she was caught up in overwhelming enchantment. Long and short, white, pastels, flaming bright colors, floral designs, everything was sampled until she was in near orgasmic delight. Liz and Hoshi pooled their funds for their friend, as even had this not been for her celebration, she had absolutely no funds of her own. In the end her total of new garments exceeded both of theirs combined. They had left the seventh store, having sent the second 'shipment' of goods to join the first at the hotel.

They were on their way out of the ninth store, Hoshi having called a firm halt to the excursion, when they passed a mannequin draped with a startling dress indeed. Fiery red, trimmed with a material that gave it an incendiary sheen, it was a long gown which started at the hips and went no higher. A single band of material started at the right hip, flaring wide across the chest to gather at the left shoulder where the material hung down the back to the hem. Only the weight of the material over the shoulder kept it in place. Tia stopped dead, staring at it, eyes wide in such longing as to take her breath away. Normally clothes meant little or nothing to her, until influenced by her friends today, but she was seeing herself in it when Shar-les would first see her.

Liz and Hoshi, standing behind her, exchanged glances, but Hoshi shook her head, her lips moving to a silent but emphatic 'no!' Tia reached for the skirt, feeling the material infinitely softer than silk, almost like a cloud given form. Liz fixed her friend with a look, but Hoshi mouthed the silent word 'broke'. Tia ran her hand along the material from waist to shoulder, reveling in its soft lightness, feeling it flow through her hand like rain. Hoshi responded to her friend's more intense look with a silently mouthed 'flat _busted_.' Tia ran her hands along the top and caressed the draping red waterfall, softer by far than the sheerest silk, letting it flow through her fingers, seeing Shar-les' eyes on her. Liz looked at Hoshi, who hung her head with a rueful if almost silent laugh mingled with a sigh of defeat.

xxx

The sun was setting in the northeast when they returned to their suite, getting ready for the evening. Hoshi insisted that they make a night of it at the nightclub downstairs. "But how can we?" Liz protested quietly. If they skipped dinner tonight, they could just pay for the rooms.

"I have a way." She picked up her communicator. "Sato to Commander Tucker." It did not take more than an instant.

"Hoshi, you had better have some good news, because I'm ready to chew neutronium."

"Well, if that's what you want to eat, meet us in the Starlight night club on the main level of the Paradise hotel in ninety minutes. Oh, and Commander; it's upscale, so wear your best and bring plenty of credits – you're buying." She snapped the circuit closed quickly.

"He's either going to kiss you or force you through an anti-matter injector."

"When he gets a look at her, he's going to forget about everything."

"You hope."

"Either way, I get to have dinner."

xxx

The Starlight club's motif lived up to its name. Through a dizzying application of holographic projection the vast expanse of the cosmos filled the room. Suns, comets, planets, stellar clusters, quasars, nebula and the spiral arms of distant galaxies stretched to infinity on all sides, above and below. The illusion that there was no floor, but that tables, patrons, waiters and orchestra all floated upon the same plane in the vastness of interstellar space made for a staggering vista; not for the squeamish, but for the space boomers prepared to enjoy it.

Trip Tucker, resplendent in full dress uniform, entered the vast expanse with his two more casually dressed shipmates. Jonathan Archer surveyed the setting appreciatively. "It's like walking in the cosmos." He said, listening to the soft music of flutes from the band situated beyond Antares. "Incredible."

"But where are they?" Trip insisted. As fascinating as the display was, this was not the view of heavenly bodies he'd come for.

"Over there, toward Aldebaran." Reed identified. They were indeed seated in the indicated direction. Hoshi and Liz could be seen in profile, the third woman had her back to them, and all they could see was a flow of golden hair over a trail of red. Trip stopped dead, and they saw in his eyes a mixture of anxiousness and anxiety.

Archer looked at his old friend with some sympathy, reminded of that moment seven months ago when he had first met Tia. He leaned closer. "Archer to Tucker: Lay in course and engage." Trip's surprised blink seemed to reach down to his toes.

"Aye, sir." He started forward across the room, his two friends following. Reed mimed loading a phase rifle and firing it into the man's head, Archer's shoulders shaking as he tried to keep from laughing in response.

x

As he approached the table, Liz and Hoshi both saw him coming peripherally but did not react or look at him. He stopped behind Tia. "Pardon me, Miss, would you care to dance?" He asked in his most suave tones. Tia looked over her shoulder, the brightness of her smile like a nova, in that it nearly sent the man careening into the nearest star.

"I love would to." She answered in a voice like seductive ear candy and stood up, mindful of the care required to wear the ultra-silken gown which clung to her body like a scarlet cloud, the weight of material hanging over her left shoulder barely noticeable. The floor length skirt hung low from her hips; a drape starting at the right hip crossed her chest with a flaring arc to fall over her left shoulder to the hem, its silken weight being the only thing holding her top in place. When she stood before him, Trip's mouth fell open and his eyes could not take in enough of her.

At the first instant he thought she was wearing particularly high heeled slippers, but impossible to judge in the unlimited vista below them he sensed it was not the case. She seemed older, as if he had not seen her for years though it had only been barely two days. She was changed in ways he could not fathom, and his wide, barely blinking eyes tried to take her in as he stared, speechless.

"Forward I looked have to you see…" She began, but then faltered as he continued staring. She looked Trip in the eye, feeling she had to get used to doing so more comfortably now that she was almost as tall as he. "Do you …" She began in a whisper, barely able to say it. "Do you me like?"

He didn't say anything, unable to take his eyes off her. After a moment her confidence faltered, and she looked to her friends in distress.

"That means he likes." Liz assured her.

"Yes!" Trip exclaimed, breaking free sharply from his paralysis. "You take my breath away." Again she looked to her friends.

"That a good thing is?" She asked apprehensively.

"A very good thing." Hoshi assured her.

"_That's_ what's meant by 'knocking him on his ass'."

x

The three men were even more surprised at this, but let it go. Tia turned back to Trip with a dazzling smile. "Hoped I you like me would."

"I – I just had to get used to it. It's like … like … God, Tia, I don't have the words for it."

"I believe you did ask her to dance?" Liz said, bailing her friend out.

"Yes. Yes. Would you like to?" He offered her his arm, but as she took it she noticed Archer and Reed standing by. She looked at Archer with as luminous a smile.

"Galyas, Wrenaouq Archer, Kaslier Reed."

"Galyas, Miss Anlor." Archer replied. "You're looking …" He hunted for a word, but absolutely nothing seemed to fit, so he simply gave up. "Well."

"Feel I better much. Over the luuru is." She said unnecessarily. She was starting to enjoy their reactions now that her initial anxiety was over.

"Well, it seems to have done very well for you." Reed said, feeling like he should say _something_, and convinced he was sounding like a fool, but she just smiled brightly.

"Much used to getting it take will."

"Truer words were never spoken." She turned to Trip, who seemed to be recovering.

"Shar-les?"

"Mmm?"

She tried to keep a longing out of her voice, but could not. "Danced have I before never, though seen I have. This then first time will be. May dance with you I among the stars?"

"I shall be delighted, ma'am." She still held his arm, and they were about to step out when she hesitated again, looking at Archer.

"Anston, Wrenaouq. Know I prefer you in uniform us on planets to be," she smiled shyly, "but it longer fits not."

"Under – understandable, Miss Anlor. N-no need for uniforms on shore leave. What you're … wearing … is fine." Actually, Archer thought it was far more than 'fine', but kept that strictly to himself. The young woman was absolutely stunning.

x

Trip led her out onto the 'invisible' dance floor before the orchestra, which was playing a slow tune, mostly reeds and lutes, but remained so stunned that she actually began dancing with him before he realized it.

Archer and Reed stared at them, unable to look away. Tia was not only taller; almost as tall as Trip now, her head coming up past his eyes; but her body in the flowing scarlet half-gown was now that of a woman rather than a girl. As they sat down, Reed was surprised to see a look of near sadness on Liz's face. "What's wrong?"

"I just realized." She said wistfully, looking at the dancing couple. "Our little girl has grown up." They watched as the pair moved on the floor, bodies pressed close, swaying to the music of a slow, intimate dance. Trip was still a hundred thousand light years away from being the suave, debonair man he wanted to be; and they could tell that Tia was trying to hide having a difficult time adjusting to the differences in her 'new body' and to just enjoy the moment.

Reed shook his head. "Just when I'd thought I'd caught up on all her surprises…" Archer looked at him with a wry expression.

"I don't think we're _ever_ going to catch up."


	8. Among the Stars

Chapter Eight

Among the Stars

As Trip moved in the slow dance with the astonishing woman, he tried very hard to keep from being completely overwhelmed. Finally he had to give in and admit that he had been 'overwhelmed' from the first day he'd laid eyes on her; and every day since! The woman he held in his arms was the same girl he'd known just a day ago, but still not!

"Selis tuy pon yintis?" She asked softly in that musically accented voice that was so much like ear candy to him. It was a question that made sense only in English, yet somehow it had 'adapted' itself to her, as so many things seemed to.

"My thoughts, right now, would not be worth a penny. They're just so scrambled."

"Your thoughts to me always worth much are." A second later she winced in sharp pain.

"Sorry!"

"Is fault your nyasi. It my new body is. Everything … not where I expect to be it is. Worse, I even see the floor can not!"

"No, it's my three left feet. You are dancing beautifully. You said you never did, but …" She glanced away guiltily.

"I flib did, but now realize flib not I did."

"Fib?"

"Daai. But like this dance, used to it not. Is how Aurans dance not."

"Well, how do Aurans dance? I'm game for anything, especially if it will make you feel more comfortable." He had been 'leading' in the human manner, but she released his hand, drawing very close to him, bringing her arms up under his to press to his back, holding them together. The lines of their bodies touched from feet to shoulders. "I think I like this style." He said softly into her ear. "Tell me, where do I put my hands?"

She looked up into his eyes, her golden orbs sparkling in the starlight. "Think I you that can for yourself work out." She whispered sensuously. Not trusting himself, he settled for placing them on her bare back, one hand holding the scarlet material in place on her shoulder lest their movements dislodge it and they discover just how tolerant of strangers and accommodating the Risans were. "In way this, know what one another's movements would be. Can as one move, with surprises no." He had to admit that surprises were the furthest thing from his mind! As it was, he had plenty of bare golden flesh under his hands, and could feel her movements, and more, perfectly.

She looked up at him, their eyes close and he could swear hers sparkled in the surrounding stars. "Missed this terribly have I, but only with you did want."

"I wish, Tia, that in this moment I could tell you what I'm feeling."

"Aurans do tell nyasi." She whispered softly.

"Then what do they do?"

She shook her head. "Use words we do not. Feel we do. Can you not … can you just this one time try … to _feel_ as an Auran would?" Looking deeply into her eyes, tawny flecked in yellow and molten gold, Trip knew he had finally found his answer.

"Yes."

xx

They moved together slowly, sensuously, one song blending unheard into the next, time meaning nothing, place meaning nothing, just their closeness meaning everything, no need for words or thoughts or sight or hearing, just themselves and their closeness, and a communication that went beyond spoken, beyond heard, beyond felt.

Then awareness intruded as, out of the corner of his eye, Trip noticed something that drew his attention. Just an instant before, it seemed, there were dozens of couples on the dance floor, and the scores of tables were occupied. Now there was only one other couple on the 'floor' dancing among the stars, and only three tables held any patrons, and one of those couples was leaving even now. "Well, I'll be …" His eyes sought out a chronometer. "It's nearly 0530!" He looked at his lovely companion. "Didn't you realize it was so late either?"

"Nyas." She sighed happily.

He looked at the table where he'd last seen his shipmates. Of course, it was empty. "They must have left hours ago."

"Das plinta?"

He looked at her with mild 'suspicion'. "Is that Auran for 'who cares'?"

"Daai." She sighed, still holding to him.

"I should get you 'home', but I'm sure Hoshi and Liz will be asleep." He tried to disengage from her, but she held him fast.

"Qualsia. Want to 'go home' not."

Trip had to admit he felt the same way.

xx

They left the Paradise hotel, stepping out onto the street. The surrounding city, taking on more the aspect of a tremendous tropical resort, was not crowded, nor was it well lit or conspicuously technological. There was technology there; that much was obvious from the 'décor' of the Starlight club, but on the whole this was a world for getting away from the obviously technological, and back to the relaxation of nature.

Therefore, there was no road to speak of. The hotel let out onto a grassy expanse neither too distant nor too close to its nearest neighbor. Air cars, which did not damage the décor, provided transportation as needed. Tonight, however, there was little need.

It was like the 'city' was on a permanent 'vacation', and they could join it as much as they wanted.

They stood for a few moments, getting their bearings. There was a soft tropical breeze that ruffled the hem and drape of Tia's scarlet dress, but not enough to dislodge the drape from her left shoulder. She held her left hand up to her shoulder, just touching the material, just in case of an unexpectedly strong breeze. Trip, in his full dress uniform, found it comfortable indeed, but asked his companion; "Are you cold?" She shook her head with a smile. "Lets go for a walk, shall we?" She nodded, stepping out onto the grassy walkway. Trip, walking on her right beside her, put his hand to her left shoulder, just a touch, allowing her to drop her own hand from securing the silk. "Not concerned I'll get a peek, are you? I've never known you to be concerned about clothes." He said softly, almost teasingly.

"I am nyasi. But it such a pretty dress is; I do want it to fall apart not."

"No danger of that." His fingertips teased her shoulder lightly. At any other time he might have run a fingertip up and down her neck, but he sensed she did not want that, and he knew nothing spoiled a good romantic mood like getting horny.

They walked silently along the grass, having no place to go and all the time in the world to get there.

Tia looked up at the sky, her face bathed in the pale light of the irregularly shaped moon. Though it was just dipping low into the eastern sky, it was fully illuminated by the distant sun far below the western horizon. "When count Aura you do, six planets have I been on: Beta Aragorn III, Elanis IV, Caldis III, Eminiar VIII and now Risa. All them wonders had, but the others I did enjoy not. Risa I do."

"Well, you had pretty bad experiences on all the others. It's about time you got a break and set down someplace nice." She looked down from the sky to his face.

"With you, all are nice." She cuddled closer to him as they strolled.

"I feel the same way about worlds when I'm with you."

"Caldis III even?"

"Even Caldis III."

"The stars so lovely here are. Inside real they were not. On Enterprise … is the same not. How to the stars see properly this is."

"I've known many worlds, many skies. Some are so overwhelmed by the city you can't see much beyond a nova, some night-lit by the Milky Way even better than Earth."

"How this with them compare?" He looked up, considering.

"Peaceful."

"Peaceful." She agreed; then was silent for a few moments. "Shar-les, will Earth you me one day take? You me your home show?"

"I'd love to. I'd love to introduce you to my parents, my sister, show you Florida. You'd like it."

"Will me your parents, your sister, like?"

"They'll love you. Because they'll know I love you."

"Wish I you Aura could show." She said wistfully.

"Maybe someday. What's it like?"

"This like." She waved her hand expansively. "We with our nature live, build up overmuch not. But so much green not."

"What color is it?"

"Is –." She stopped, biting the word off and then shaking her head. He realized she did not want to continue, that the pain was still too sharp, too immediate. He knew that if things did not change drastically, she would likely never see her planet again in her lifetime. He cursed himself for letting the recollection lead to that memory.

"But you're right. It is a lovely night."

"Daai," She whispered. "The warm breezes, the night, the quiet… it I love." She turned to him. "Wondrous this is! Matter how long nyasi; an hour with you is an eternity like."

"I – _what_!"

She laughed gaily. "Anston! I mean …" But he stopped her.

"I know what you mean." He drew her into a hug, and she pressed against him happily.

She turned to look at the western sky, which was now brighter than just a few moments ago. "Sun's coming up." Trip told her unnecessarily.

"Wish would it not." She said longingly. She pressed close, as if trying to escape some foe.

"Can't hold back the dawn, honey."

"Wish could I." She held closer to him, as if by clinging to him she could escape the rising sun. "I this night last _forever_ wish! _Boan_! Want with you to stay boan ne boan ne boan!" She looked again at the western sky like facing an advancing enemy. "Wish could I the dawn go away make; that this night with you end nyasura!"

"Your wish, my lady, is my command." With some little difficulty he would not trade for any ease, Trip managed to work his communicator out of the pocket of his left sleeve. "Tucker to Enterprise."

"Enterprise here." The relief Comm officer replied.

"Two to beam up. Tell the helm to prepare to break geo-synchronous orbit as soon as we're aboard. Take us to the terminus on the eastern hemisphere and set us down again."

"Acknowledged," The report came back a moment later. "Standing by."

"Energize." He just managed to get Tia disengaged from him in time.

x

The still novel effect of the transporter caught them a few seconds later, and when they materialized on the platform Trip was facing the operator, whom he greeted with a casual gesture and word. But Tia, facing him and therefore with her back to the mildly surprised and cautiously appreciative technician, had her eyes patiently closed. It took only half a minute for the great starship to realign itself and for a signal from the bridge to report the maneuver completed. "Beam us down."

"Have fun." The man offered a moment before they vanished.

x

Tia, sensing a difference in the atmosphere first upon her bare skin, opened her eyes to find them on the edge of a huge beach, the subdued sound of ocean waves not heavily influenced by the tide of the distant moon rising over the western sky providing a soft background ambiance. She turned, looking at a red sun just dipping below the eastern horizon hundreds of kilometers out on the ocean. The sky was painted in shades of red, pink and the purple of the once blue sky. She could look with ease at the swollen image of the apparently red sun now more than halfway below the horizon. Under her scarlet slippers the fine sand shifted slightly when she moved her feet. She turned to Trip, finding his features ruddy in the red-shifted and gradually dimming light.

She was sure her own features reflected the wonder she felt. "It… It masvool – miraculous is! When on Enterprise, know it these things do can, but to experim … um, 'experience' it _wondrous_ is!" She flung her arms around him, hugging him joyously. "You so _clever_ are!"

Trip, who would love to be able to take credit for so simple an idea, could actually not manage to bring himself to disagree with her. A few seconds later she laughed delightedly, as if realizing his quandary. "Well, you've another night." She shook her head on his shoulder.

"Nyas, the same one it is."

"All right, the same one." But when she pulled away, getting used to the feel of shifting sand under her feet, he thought he saw something hidden in her golden eyes. "But why is that so important to you?"

"This my luuruna is. The fight night of my …" She shook her head. "I do know how to explain it not. Told Hoshi earlier at dinner, or tried to. It Auran legend is, for a woman the first night of her luuru is. She understood _said_ she did, but I know not. Said she humans have similar, but can think of the words she me told not. Spoke she of 'sweet sixteen' and 'prom' and 'beau' and 'corsage', and words I do know not. What meant she?"

"Well, if I were to guess…" He answered, suddenly uncomfortable and not really knowing why. "Those are all pretty romantic images."

"'Romantic' word she use is did."

"I have no doubt. But Tia, I have to confess, I'm really not a flowery kinda guy."

"Flowery?" She asked, mystified.

"You know, 'hearts and flowers'?" There was no lessening of her mystification. "Well, in human society, a man has a woman he really likes, he might give her flowers."

"Why?"

Now it was his turn to be mystified. "Well, it's kind of a tradition, you know. A man gives a woman a bouquet of cut flowers to show his love for her." She thought about it for a moment.

"I do think I would like that not. Would rather you … declare them mine but in the ground leave them, than kill them for me do."

"I agree."

"But what 'hearts' have to do with love." He thought about that one for a moment.

"Whoo boy! That's a tough one." He squatted down, not kneeling in the sand but resting on his heels, and with his finger traced a heart shape in the sand. She came down as well, still facing him, her hand on his arm balancing herself. "It's a symbol. A heart indicates love." She laughed gaily.

"That a heart is not! Neither human nor Auran! I a glistni am; I _know_ do." Reaching down she drew with a golden fingertip, next to his, a hasty but he was certain highly accurate sketch. "That an Auran heart is." Next to it she drew another sketch, this one more familiar, though at least twenty percent smaller. "That a human heart is. See the four chambers rather than six, while you a single aorta have…"

"It's a symbol, not biology!" He protested, feeling an irrational need to defend … something.

"Nyas!" She said firmly, but with a somehow still teasing tone. "Will discuss _biology_ with you _not_!"

"Huh? Why?" He demanded, feeling like he was losing more and more grip of this conversation by the moment. She looked up from the drawings to him, her eyes glinting mirthfully, though she made no move to stand up.

"Because when biology with you start, often logler in my sulyas I have."

"Logler in your sulyas?"

"Semen in my -." He held up a hand, cutting her off.

"Never mind, I get it."

"Nyas, it to me you give! Unless I kasplis."

"What?" She grinned slyly, putting her three fingers on the small silver rank studs on his uniform.

"Swallow." Suddenly she pushed him, toppling him backward on the sand. He landed easily, but when he looked down the length of his body she was up and running away along the sand. Between having to hold the top of her dress and with the complete lack of traction she had from her scarlet slippers in the shifting sand, she was making no speed at all.

Grinning, he was up and sprinting after her, overtaking her in barely five seconds, passing her before turning and stopping, Tia colliding with him an instant later, her laughter high and gay as their arms encircled one another, and his lips on hers silenced her laughter.

For a long, quiet moment their bodies pressed together, their lips stroking. Finally she leaned back enough to see him, her chest and all below pressed to him. "Will keep me you?" She whispered. "On this luuruna, will _keep_ me you?"

"Yes!" He whispered. She clung to him ecstatically, feeling like she was going to explode in pure joy!

"Xu ti tuvi li mrunion zilyn vestal kir! Ti tuvi li mrunion kilra vestal kir! Ti tuvi li mrunion au-ra' vestal kir! Ti tuvi li mrunion kilris vestal kir! Klais ne seelna, nik qui va li kilri ouu!" She kissed him deeply, as if she were going to crawl into him. It was not a human gesture, but it seemed to fit the moment, and she had to admit that over the months she was starting to find it really appealing. It was some moments later before he could come up for air.

"Tia, honey, what was that?"

"That the Malyn su Salyuun, the 'Pledge of Salyuun' is!" She kissed him again, even more deeply. She was now quite certain that she did like this human gesture very, very much.

"Salyuun?" He asked, the next time he managed to breathe.

"Daai!" She answered breathlessly, seeking more. "Klais ne seelna, an ne boan!" She kissed him again, muttering indistinctly and unintelligibly into his lips. "Now and always, ever and forever!" It was a long time before either could speak again.

"How does it go?" He asked the next time he was able to come up for a gasp. She rushed through it breathlessly, the formal words tripping over one another in their haste, not wanting to be parted from his lips for so very long.

"'Then to you I my body offer do, to you I my breath offer do, to you I my soul offer do, to you I my life offer do, now and always, so long as I live shall!" She pressed her lips to his with deeper fire almost before she finished the last hurried whisper.

Tia Anlor was happier in this moment than she could ever remember being, than she had conceived of herself being. The legends of the luuruna had come true for her, as she'd known they would; that the first man that she knew in the night in the way of an adult would be her destined bondsman, one with her for all time! She'd endured the luuru, and within the night she was together with her bondmate, the one she'd never ever doubted! She'd given the Pledge, and promised herself to him in body, breath, soul and life! She'd pledged herself his forever!

But quite lost in that ecstatic rush as she kissed him, giving in to a bliss that knew no bounds, was any realization that she had not received an answer.


End file.
